In The Darkness
by AerinM
Summary: In an alternate ending where Raxtus did not rescue Kendra at the end of Book 4, what happens? (Mostly canon-divergent for book 5.)
1. Chapter 1

**Chapter 1**

When Kendra awoke, the Sphinx was kneeling above her. She gasped in shock and rolled away from him out of instinct, only to crash into someone's legs. Looking up, she saw Gavin leering down at her and she let out a startled cry and sat up, scooting herself away from both figures until her back was flat against the wall behind her.

"Welcome to my home, Kendra," the Sphinx said, a note of what sounded kind of like pleasant cheerfulness in his voice. He stood from his kneeling position and walked toward a nearby cabinet. She noticed that he was holding the Sands of Sanctity and deduced that he had used it on her in order to wake her up.

Looking frantically around, she tried to recall what had happened to her and how she had wound up, well… apparently in the Sphinx's home, wherever that was. She remembered running. She'd been separated from Seth. There was a cliff. Dragons. Roaring. Fighting. With a flash of sudden recollection, the rest of the puzzle pieces fell into place. Sidestep Cleft. Warren was injured and in the knapsack. Gavin torched the knapsack. He killed the astrids. She had fought him – he had broken her leg and dislocated her arm – she passed out from the pain. She became conscious again here and there after that – she remembered feeling bitterly cold, and there had been wind rushing through her hair. Discomfort from the pressure of a claw around her middle. Pain. _So much pain_.

Stretching her right leg in front of her, she examined it carefully to find that it had been mended. Her right arm had likewise been mended. There was no more pain – at least, not of the physical variety.

Glancing to her left, she found that Gavin had walked over to casually lean against the wall she was currently backed up against, standing maybe two feet or so away from her. He was still leering at her, an evil glint in his eyes. Her instincts told her to shy away and hide. She knew he was deadly. Her heart, however, was beyond furious. Extremely upset, she stood to her feet and let her anger reflect in her body language.

"You!" she shouted. "What have you done!?"

"I rescued you from Wyrmroost," Gavin shrugged passively, rolling his eyes at her. "You would've been stuck inside that cleft forever if I hadn't come along."

"You… You betrayed us!" The volume of her voice hadn't lessened any. "You _killed…_ Dougan! And… and Warren…!"

"Unfortunately, the rest of your merry band of idiots might have actually survived," Gavin stated coldly.

Kendra's cheeks flushed in the rush of emotions that flowed through her body. "How _could_ you?! How could you do this to us?! To _me_?!"

Gavin reached out a hand and grabbed her jaw tightly. "I like you," he said. "Don't make me _dis_ like you."

She spat in his face. He smirked and wiped off his cheek, but didn't release his hold on her jaw. "I told you," he said, obviously addressing the Sphinx even though he was still maintaining eye contact with her. "She has a fire inside of her. It's entertaining."

The Sphinx chimed in. "Let her go," he said softly, although sternly enough to indicate that it was an order and not a suggestion.

Gavin- no, _Navarog_ , Kendra corrected herself, released her jaw and she rubbed it to relieve some of the achiness. He had a tight grip. "That's right, _Navarog_ ," she spit out, "Obey your master like a good little dragon."

He had her pinned against the wall faster than she could even register. His hot breath washed over her face and she grimaced in fear despite herself. "Do yourself a favor and don't say such things again."

She forced herself to look back up and into his eyes and stated, "You need a breath mint." Who knew she would channel her inner Seth when she was in such dire straits? That thought warmed her heart a tiny bit, although she was still overwhelmingly terrified and angry given her predicament.

Navarog chuckled despite himself. "Kendra, I never knew you could be so feisty," he grinned at her. "I like seeing this side of you. Such a change from _'Dear Gavin, all I think about is you. You're amazing. XOXO.'_ I enjoyed reading those letters." He moved his hand toward her and she tried to scoot away from his touch as he uninvitedly caressed her face, but she couldn't go very far since he had her very effectively pinned.

"I said enough," the Sphinx commanded, finality in his tone of voice.

It took Navarog a few more moments before he grudgingly let her go and resumed his casual position of leaning against the wall, all the while maintaining his smirk and holding her eye contact. He knew that he unnerved her and he was obviously enjoying it.

The Sphinx cleared his throat, obviously trying to cut through some of the tension in the room. "Kendra, would you like a drink? I have water or pear juice. The pear is exquisite, I must say."

Kendra turned her gaze to the other man in the room who had betrayed her and her family. "I don't want anything."

"Hmm," the Sphinx began. "You've traveled far, and under great duress. You won't be escaping this place. And I'm afraid that once you depart from my presence, you may find the hospitality… less hospitable. I invite you to take this opportunity to refresh yourself. Another opportunity is unlikely to present itself in the near future."

She was quiet for a moment, contemplating his words. The Sphinx wasn't the type of person who would poison her food or drink – if he'd wanted her dead, all Navarog had to do was finish her off while at Wyrmroost. Or the Sphinx could have simply refused to heal her once they'd arrived. No, he didn't want her dead. She also figured that she had no practical means of escape at this particular moment in time – no doubt at least Navarog would stop her from leaving, plus she had no idea where she was or what awaited her beyond the doors to this room. She was also still extremely upset and was having a difficult time calming herself. Navarog's constant gaze upon her was very unsettling – even though she wasn't looking at him, she could feel his eyes basically burning holes through the back of her head.

"Does he have to be here?" she asked, pointing her thumb at him from over her shoulder. She refused to look back at him.

The Sphinx seemed to ponder her request. She couldn't figure out what he was thinking, but he didn't hesitate for long. After only a few seconds, he invited Navarog to leave. An invitation which wasn't recognized in the slightest.

"Please leave this room," the Sphinx repeated.

"I don't want to," Navarog responded. "I'm perfectly happy to stand _right here_."

"I don't want him here," Kendra restated.

"Deal with it, sweetheart," he answered.

" _Enough_ ," the Sphinx emphatically interjected. "Navarog, leave this room at once."

Kendra finally turned around to look at the disguised dragon. His gaze had finally shifted over to the other man in the room. They seemed to be having a silent argument with each other. Finally, Gavin stopped leaning against the wall and walked toward Kendra, looking her up and down. She was admittedly very afraid of him, but she refused to show it and instead returned his unwanted gaze with a fierce glare of her own.

"So much fight still in you. I like that," he said. He reached his hand out to grip her arm, but she yanked it out of his grasp.

"Get lost," she said, pure venom in her tone of voice.

Gavin rolled his eyes at her, but also raised his hands up in a surrendering fashion. "Fine," he said. "I'll leave. But I _will_ come back for you. _I promise you that_." And with one final dark grin at her, he turned around and headed out the door.

"I apologize for his behavior," the Sphinx said once the demon prince had exited the room. "Please, come have a seat." He gestured to a low table on the opposite side of the room as the door. Kendra walked over to the table and sat on one of the many cushions the room had to offer. For the first time since her arrival, she felt like she could finally get a good look at her surroundings. This room was very comfortable and well decorated with lavish drapes hanging from the ceiling and in front of the windows. The architecture seemed old and the room appeared to be made of stones.

"Where are we?" Kendra asked.

"You are currently sitting in the fifth magical preserve," the Sphinx answered. "Hidden in a remote location in a country which is now referred to as Turkey."

Kendra rubbed her hands up and down her arms. She was starting to come down from her anger high now that Gavin – no, _Navarog_ – had left the room, and she felt vulnerable and exposed. Her body was begging for rest, and she really felt like she was overdue for a good cry at the moment, but she tried to continue to hold it together for the time being.

"He frightens you, doesn't he?" the Sphinx asked.

"I don't want to talk about him," she answered.

The Sphinx paused for a few seconds again before he said, "While you are within these walls, you will be protected from him."

"That's nice and all, but who's going to protect me from _you_?" she retorted. "In case you haven't noticed, I was attacked, injured and kidnapped – for the second time in less than a month, mind you – betrayed by someone I thought I could trust for the second time within the past year," she stared at him pointedly, "and now I'm being told that I'm going to be held captive somewhere I know that my family probably has no chance of ever finding me."

"Fair enough," the Sphinx said. "I do want you to know that I mean you no harm."

Kendra only scoffed in reply.

"For the sake of productive conversation, it would be helpful if you made an effort to at least try to calm down."

She bit the inside of her cheek. Tears threatened to spill and overtake all of her senses. "Forgive me for being a little emotionally charged," she eventually managed to spit out.

"Would you care for water? Juice? Or perhaps some tea?"

"Water would be nice."

The Sphinx poured her a glass of cold water and set it in front of her. She didn't move to take it right away, but he didn't seem to mind. "Would you like something to eat?" He motioned toward the rest of the table, which held a variety of cheeses and fruits on it – some of which she didn't recognize – and a few different types of breads. She shook her head no, but the Sphinx seemed to ignore that and prepared a plate for her anyway.

Kendra didn't feel like she could keep food down at the moment, but her stomach growled at the sight of it in front of her in spite of herself. The Sphinx smiled at her and said, "Please, eat your fill. You are welcome to stay here with me for the duration of our conversation."

"Why am I here?" Kendra asked as she took a sip of the water he had poured for her. "Do you really need a battery charger so desperately that you had to send a dragon to fetch me?"

"There are several reasons for you to be here," the Sphinx began. "You are admittedly a very convenient magical energy source, although that is not the primary reason. You've proven to be very resourceful on many occasions in the past, and one of the main reasons for your presence here is so that you will not be utilizing that resourcefulness against us as we move forward."

"What about my brother?"

"Yes, the two of you together are becoming a fairly formidable team." He paused to take a drink from his own glass before he continued, "Seth has also been targeted for capture. As have your grandparents."

Kendra balled her hands into fists and once again made an effort to swallow the urge to cry. Her parents still thought she was dead. Her brother and grandparents had only just gotten her back from the Sphinx recently. What were they going to think now?

"You are free to ask more questions," the Sphinx said. "You look distressed."

Kendra snorted at that statement and said through watery eyes, "Everyone probably thinks I'm dead _again_. I'm just… I'm trying to come to terms with that and everything else."

"I'm sorry to have hurt you," the Sphinx stated. Oddly enough, he sounded almost sincere.

"It doesn't feel like you're very sorry when you're the one who caused all of the problems in the first place," she answered. There was no venom in her tone of voice. She was just desperately trying to reign in her emotions at this point. "I'm done asking questions for now. Just tell me about this place and about your plans and I will eat while you talk," she said, biting into a roll to emphasize her point.

The Sphinx explained to her how he initially came to this preserve, where he had come from before then, and how he had managed to live throughout the many years since he had freed himself. He told her about his motives for opening the demon prison and for the most part she simply listened while she ate. It helped take her mind temporarily off of other things when she wasn't the one who had to do the talking. His storytelling came to a lull shortly after she finished her meal, at which point she sighed and looked pointedly into his eyes. "I guess you're going to lock me away in the dungeon now, aren't you?" she asked.

"More or less," he answered.

"Can I ask you a couple more questions before I go?"

"You may ask whatever you wish. I give no promises about whether I will answer."

Kendra folded her hands together and placed them in her lap. "Are you going to kill my family?"

"Your parents are safe, and as for the rest of your family… I have no intentions of harming them," he stated.

"Intentions are different than actuality," she replied. "Look, I'll be a good little prisoner. I'll behave. I'll recharge your magical objects for you without complaint. I just ask that my family be safe."

The Sphinx crossed his arms and sat a little straighter. "I can promise you that we will make every effort to ensure they are safely captured."

That was apparently the straightest answer she was going to get from him on that point. She felt hopeless and insecure. Steeling herself for one more question she quietly asked, "I _will_ be safe here, right?" She thought back to how Navarog had leered at her and felt her skin crawl unpleasantly. She started running her hands up and down her arms again in an unconscious gesture of comfort more than for any other reason.

"He will not harm you here," the Sphinx replied, immediately seeming to understand who she was specifically thinking about. "Again, I apologize for his behavior."

"Just keep him away from me," she said, an involuntary shiver running up her spine.

"I understand," the Sphinx replied. With that, he stood up and offered her his hand to assist her. She stood up on her own and turned toward the door. There was no point in running. She had nowhere to go.

* * *

This will be a series of interconnected oneshots. Let me make this clear from the onset – this will _not_ be a Gavendra story. I may play with Kendra's emotions, though. (Who're we kidding? That's going to happen.) This series will be darker than the Always series – BY FAR. Hence the higher rating for this one. There will be nothing explicit and the language will stay clean. The themes are darker, though. Prepare for angst. I'm unsure of whether I will stay with Kendra's POV the whole way through this story or if I will switch back and forth between her and Seth. I'm leaning toward just sticking with Kendra. We'll see what happens as time progresses. I will not be able to update this story every week, so just be prepared for that as well. This all being said, I hope you enjoy reading this and decide to stick with me!

Chapter 2 will be Kendra's first night in the dungeon. And, hmm… who else do we know who lives in the Sphinx's dungeon? ;) (I can't help myself.)


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

Kendra somehow managed to maintain her composure until after she was left alone in her cell, at which point she finally fell apart into a mess of unfettered sobs.

She cried for her family. For Dougan and Mara. For Warren. The fallen astrids. Her parents. Her fear. Her gullibility. For Gavin. She cried until her eyes were puffy and swollen and she felt somewhat hungover. Pressure built up in her forehead and her body physically shuddered with every inhale and exhale.

It was a good, ugly cry. Kendra hadn't had one of those in quite a while; it left her feeling lethargic and craving sleep. She laid down on the ridiculously firm cot in her cell and closed her eyes with the intention to take a nap, managing to fall into a fitful slumber after only a few minutes of laying still.

* * *

She felt like she was being watched.

The feeling was extremely unnerving and once Kendra registered her own senses, she snapped right out of her light sleep and sat up straight, casting nervous and frantic glances all around her. It took her a few seconds to remember where she was and how she came to be there, and the distinct feeling that someone was watching her only intensified as her awareness increased. Paying closer attention as her eyes darted around, she noticed a crack in one of the walls of her cell. Had that been there earlier? It's not like she'd thoroughly vetted out the place before she'd collapsed into an emotional mess.

She looked closer at the crack in the wall.

There.

An eye was peering through the crack at her.

Kendra shouted out in surprise and fear, backing herself as far away from the offending wall as possible. "Who are you?!" she demanded.

The eye widened and the crack in the wall expanded to reveal the most attractive boy she had ever seen. So, naturally…

She screamed.

Given her frayed nerves from the events of the past couple of days, that was perhaps an understandable reaction.

The boy rushed forward, eyes wide, frantically waving his hands in front of him and making shushing noises in an effort to calm her down.

Unfortunately, his motions had the exact _opposite_ effect on Kendra, who stood up and continuously ran as far away from him as she could – which, given the size of her cell, really wasn't all that far. The boy seemed to realize she was uncomfortable with his proximity to her and stopped walking toward her. "Shhh," he urgently emphasized. "Please calm down. I promise I'm not here to hurt you."

"Then why were you watching me sleep like a total creeper?!" Kendra shouted. Frantically searching her cell for anything she could possibly weaponize and realizing quickly that she didn't even have any loose rocks to grab and use as projectiles, her gaze alighted upon the door to her cell.

The boy seemed to figure out that she was planning to call for help through the door, and he quickly moved to place himself between her and it.

"Please," he said, his hands still splayed in front of him, "Let me explain."

"Who are you, and what are you doing here?!" Kendra demanded, deciding to trade some of her fear for anger.

"I'm a friend!" the boy cried out. "My name is Bracken, and I'm a prisoner here just like you!"

Kendra furrowed her eyebrows in confusion. "But what – how…?" Steeling her resolve, she opted for anger again. Useful emotion. "That doesn't make _any_ sense!"

Bracken paused. "Um… which part of that didn't make sense?"

"All of it!"

"Oh. Well, I suppose a lengthy explanation would be in order then." He seemed eerily calm about the whole situation.

"You think?!" Kendra again shouted.

"Shhh, _please!_ " Bracken again tried to quiet her. "I promise I'll tell you anything you want to know, just… keep the volume down!"

"Why should I trust you?!" Kendra demanded, although she did lower her voice a couple of notches. "You were _spying_ on me!"

"My intentions were friendly, I promise," Bracken said, making a crossing motion over his heart with one of his fingers. "I heard there was a new prisoner and I just wanted to meet you and introduce myself. Honest."

"So you decided to watch me _sleep?!_ "

A nervous look overcame Bracken's face and he said, "When I opened the wall, I was blinded by light. It took me by surprise, and a minute to adjust, and then I just… couldn't look away."

"You can see my light?" Kendra asked, this time at a normal volume level, although she was breathing heavily from her temporary panic attack.

"You're beautiful," the boy blurted out, his expression shifting from nervous to awestruck.

Confusion once again overcame Kendra. "Who _are_ you?" Her tone of voice was still demanding.

Bracken blinked and stated simply, "I'm Bracken."

"Yeah, okay. I get that that's your _name_ , but seriously – who _are_ you? I've only ever met maybe two humans who could see my light."

"Oh… right. Well, I'm not human," he responded simply, wearing a somewhat sheepish smile.

A moment of silence lapsed until Kendra could wait no longer and finally asked, "Care to elaborate?"

Bracken went back to looking nervous again. "You wouldn't believe me if I told you."

"What, are you going to tell me you're a giant fairy who lost his wings or something?" She couldn't keep the sarcasm out of her voice.

"No, not exactly…"

Hesitancy seized her. "You're not a dragon, are you?" she asked.

Bracken furrowed his eyebrows. "What? Why would you think that?"

"Oh, I don't know… it wouldn't be the first time a cute, friendly boy turned out to be an evil dragon."

That statement only seemed to confuse Bracken further. "You befriended an evil dragon? Really? But you're _fairykind_."

Kendra frowned and became somewhat defensive. "I didn't _know_ he was evil. I also didn't know he was a dragon." She paused. "You still have a lot of explaining to do."

"Where should I start?"

"Oh, I don't know… how about you tell me _who you are_ , and how you know what _I_ am?"

"I'd have to be blind to not see that you are _clearly_ fairykind," he answered. "You're way too… amazingly _brilliant_ to be anything else." Again, the awestruck look started to overcome his face and he appeared to slip into a daydream or something.

"Earth to Bracken," Kendra said, waving a hand in front of his eyes. "Explanations."

He seemed to snap out of whatever trance he'd been falling into. "Right. Well, like I said, I'm Bracken and I'm another prisoner here."

"So you've said before." Kendra let out a frustrated sigh. "This conversation is going in circles. How about you leave?"

"But I just got here—"

"Yes, and you've managed to both terrify _and_ confuse me ever since I caught you _spying_ on me. I think it's time for you to go," she insisted, pointing at the open wall he came in through.

"I'm a unicorn," Bracken blurted out. "My horns are gone and I'm stuck in human form. I've been a prisoner here for so many years, I don't even know how many, and I haven't seen the light of day since I was captured. You are the closest thing to the sun that I have seen in decades. Please talk to me. I'm lonely and I miss the light."

Kendra blinked, absorbing what he'd just said. "That's… a lot to take in," she said. Then, skeptically, she added, "A unicorn? _Really?_ "

Bracken nodded and repeated, "Stuck in human form."

"A unicorn."

"Mm-hmm."

"A _unicorn._ "

"I told you it'd sound crazy."

Kendra exhaled in frustration and, clenching her eyes shut, she pinched the bridge of her nose between her thumb and forefinger.

"Are you okay?" Bracken asked. The question caused Kendra to scoff and look back at him.

"Everything is so messed up right now, I don't even know _how_ to be okay," she responded quietly, feeling the prick of tears at her eyes again and forcing them back.

"Is there anything I can do to help?"

Making eye contact with Bracken, Kendra was somewhat surprised to find that he actually appeared to be concerned. _Liar_ , she thought. _You can't trust him. You can't trust anyone. Not anymore._

"I appreciate the offer," Kendra began. "But no."

"Do you want to talk about it?"

"No."

"Would it help if I told you more about me?"

Kendra pondered that for a moment, then said, "Probably not."

"Oh." Bracken looked down at his feet, then back up at her. "Do you really want me to leave?"

She hesitated for a moment, then nodded her head, wondering if he would actually adhere to her request for solitude. Her head was still throbbing from earlier, the ache temporarily relieved due to the onslaught of adrenaline which had coursed through her from Bracken's shocking appearance earlier, but it was starting to come back again full force. She just wanted to continue sleeping and try to forget everything that had happened over the course of the past several weeks.

"I see," he said, obvious disappointment lacing his tone of voice. He perked up a little and asked, "Before I go – do you have a coin on you by chance?"

Furrowing her brow, Kendra said, "No. They took everything except my clothes from me before putting me in here. Why?"

Bracken pursed his lips and said, "I can create communication devices out of objects. I prefer coins to other items, because they're flat and can be discreetly hidden in pockets and such. Plus the metal is a little easier to enchant. I was hoping to leave one with you, that way… you can call on me if, well… if you'd like."

Kendra's brain told her to shut him down, to send him away and never see him again. Throw up shields and never let him through. Do not trust in any way, shape or form. Her heart was cut open and bleeding and needed to be protected at all costs. It reminded her that she couldn't afford another Gavin.

Her subconscious, however, told her that she _shouldn't_ completely cut Bracken off. Not yet, at least. Be wary, be careful, don't trust him right now, but don't seal the possibility of a potential alliance away either. Be smart about it.

She hesitated. Bracken continued to look at her curiously, waiting patiently for her to respond as she continued to second-guess herself. Ultimately, she decided to allow him this one concession. Just this one.

"Will a button work?" she asked quietly.

The relief that flooded Bracken's expression was almost palpable. A tremendous smile burst across his face and happiness seemed to flood his entire being. Kendra was taken aback at the shift in his demeanor and found herself almost wanting to return his smile, but she just couldn't. Not at this point; not yet.

"I haven't tried using one before," he began. "But I'd be glad to give it a shot."

Kendra looked down at her shirt. She had a pocket on the left side, over her heart, which was held closed by a small, red button. It was a superficial pocket, not really intended for any practical use, so it's not like she needed it for anything anyway. She tugged at the button for a minute, eventually pulling it free from the thread which had held it in place, then walked over to Bracken and handed it to him. He smiled at her, hid the button between both palms of his hands, and concentrated. A soft blue glow appeared around his hands for a few seconds, then he opened them back up to pass the button back to her.

"Mission successful," he stated. "If you want to talk to me, all you have to do is hold the button in your hand and think about what you want to say. I'll hear you."

Kendra accepted it and deposited it into the pocket on her shirt. "Look," she started, "Don't take this as a sign that I trust you. Because I don't."

Bracken nodded his head and opened his mouth to say something in return, but Kendra held up her hand in a gesture to prevent him from speaking.

"Your timing is terrible. The worst, actually. A lot of bad things are happening. A lot of bad things _have_ happened. I can't undo them, I can't _unsee_ them…" she trailed off, tears pricking at her eyes once again as she could see Warren's injured body lying in the hidden compartment of her burning knapsack in her mind's eye. "I need some time and space."

"Understood," Bracken replied, again holding his hands up in a surrendering gesture. "I'll leave you alone for a while." His cheerful smile faltered a bit, in favor of a more serious expression. "I know you can't _tell_ that I'm being truthful, but I really do mean you no harm. I don't know what circumstances led you here, but I don't believe in coincidence. I hope you will eventually be able to trust me, even if just a little."

He moved toward the opening in the wall and walked through it. Before closing the gap, however, he turned around to face her again and said, "If you need something, please ask. I can't offer much, but I'm pretty resourceful."

"Okay," Kendra nodded. Bracken then smiled and waved at her and closed the wall.

She put a hand over her shirt pocket and briefly wondered whether she would actually ever use the button or not. Bracken was pretty odd. He had respected her boundaries, though. Maybe he wasn't a traitor in disguise after all, she mused. Maybe he really was a friend.

Her head throbbed again and she opted to silence her thoughts in favor of continued sleep as she made her way back to her cot and laid down.

* * *

 _I've said this before and I'll say it again – Bracken was very awkward with Kendra when they first met in the books, and I absolutely loved that. His awkwardness will fade with time but may occasionally pop back up every once in a while._

 _Also, I apparently can't stick to strictly angst like I mostly wanted to. It doesn't move the plot along very well, haha. We'll see what happens next. The muses keep pulling me in different directions with this one. To be clear once again, however, this story will remain clean. I have the T rating in place to allow me a little more freedom in the future than a K would, should I choose to exercise it. Gavin will be back and he will be creepy, but the story will remain clean._

 _Sorry for the slow update. My life has been a very odd mixture of heaven and hell as of late. Rollercoaster would be an appropriate term to use. I don't foresee future chapters taking quite this long, but I ask for your patience as I continue to work through the most difficult trial of my personal life thus far. There is a light at the end of the tunnel; I can see it, I can taste it, and I crave it. :) There is hope._


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3**

It hadn't gone well.

Not that anyone had thought that there _weren't_ going to be any issues, but Navarog's presence on their team in the guise of Gavin had blindsided all of them. No one had expected it.

 _It hadn't gone well._ Understatement of the year. It was a total and complete disaster as far as Seth was concerned. Kendra was missing. _Again._ How had he let her get away from him _again?_ Where had she gone? Was she hurt? Duh. He already knew she had been hurt. They _all_ knew she had been hurt. The astrids – and Thronis – had been very clear about that. Was she suffering?

Maybe an hour or so after Seth had made it back to Thronis, a couple of astrids and a fairy arrived outside the sky giant's door. The fairy spoke to the giant and explained to him what had happened – three astrids had perished in an attempt to rescue Kendra from Navarog. He had burned Kendra's possessions. She had tried to fight and had lost. Navarog had wounded her. Then he had left the preserve and taken her with him. They did not know where the dragon had been headed. Thronis had located Tanu, Trask and Mara through his magical globe, and he and Seth coordinated with the fairy and the astrids to gather the three remaining teammates together in order to make it easier to find and extract them in the morning.

"She hid the egg," he vaguely heard someone say. He thought it might have been Tanu, but he hadn't really been paying attention. Whoever it was, they spoke the words with some relief in their voice. Right. They had made it back to Fablehaven and were debriefing his grandparents.

Seth looked up and saw Grandpa and Grandma Sorenson's defeated expressions. "But at what cost?" Grandma eventually asked quietly.

Her eyes met Seth's and he looked away as his started to fill with tears again. Grandma approached Seth and wrapped her arms around him, holding him close as he shuddered against her. The room was silent.

"She's gone," Seth eventually said. "We just got her back, and she's already gone again."

Someone else placed a hand on his shoulder. Grandma still held him tightly.

"We'll do our best to find her," Trask vowed. "We did it once, and we can do it again."

Seth wished he could believe him.

Grandpa cleared his throat. Glancing up, Seth could see that his grandfather was clearly upset as well. "She hid the egg?" he asked.

"Yes," Trask said. "In a way. She left it with another dragon by the name of Raxtus and asked him to keep it safe for us. He made sure it didn't fall into Navarog's hands, and he delivered it to us once Seth was back in our company."

"Where is it now?"

"In the car. It's heavy. I don't know how Kendra was able to lift it in order to give it to the dragon in the first place."

"What happened to Warren?" interrupted Dale. He was pale and clearly anxious.

Seth responded, "The astrids and fairy told Thronis that Gavin burned Kendra's backpack. Warren had been inside of it for a while and probably still was."

"So what does that mean? Is he… is he alive?"

"He might be," Tanu chimed in. "But if he is, he'll be trapped in the storage space."

Dale roughly ran his hands through his hair and released a shaky breath. "Then there's hope," he said.

Seth's eyes welled up with tears once more. How had they lost _so much_ in one day? How had everything gone so horribly wrong?

Where was his sister?

* * *

She stared at her meal mat and almost vomited just from the sight of the stuff on it alone. (It wasn't food – surely it couldn't _actually_ be food!) Deciding to forego yet another serving of purple, hairy, gooey grossness, she picked up the pie tin of water which had been delivered along with whatever the non-food was called and sipped from it with a bit of a cringe. The water tasted like dirt. It also made her want to gag.

Not that she had to try very hard to induce vomiting. She hadn't been feeling well for the past couple of days, now. Kendra's headache had been getting progressively worse as time went by, and it was at the point now where the pain was pretty debilitating. Dizziness had decided to rudely introduce itself to her when she last woke up as well. When her meal delivery had appeared just recently, it had taken quite a lot of strength for Kendra to push herself up and inspect what had been given to her.

It was the same thing every time. Some weird purple goop that jiggled when the mat moved, a very small piece of what vaguely looked like well-done, dried, rock-hard steak, a piece of what looked like moldy cheese, and a cup of water that tasted like dirt. She had tried the weird steak-looking thing and found it to be extremely salty. Her stomach couldn't handle it, so she'd put it down. The purple goo remained untouched. Kendra didn't even want to guess what that might have been. The cheese smelled terrible, so she steered clear of that as well.

She knew she had to eat something. A large part of her problem was probably that she hadn't had a good meal in… she didn't even know how long. The food she had eaten while the Sphinx had monologued her first day here had just been bread, cheese and fruit. She probably also needed a lot more water than what she was receiving; she just couldn't manage to make herself eat what was provided to her, and her body was lucky if she managed to choke down the entire glass of water.

Malnourished and dehydrated. She could diagnose herself. Even though she knew what her problems were, she struggled to make herself ingest anything.

Moving slowly, she made her way back to the cot. Oh, the lovely, uncomfortable, cold cot. For the thousandth time, she wished she was back at Fablehaven. Or at home with her parents, snug in her own bed, with a few nice thick blankets on top of her. She shivered as she pulled the one thin blanket she had over her shoulders and laid down to rest her throbbing head. The world started spinning when she did that, so she closed her eyes and breathed in and out slowly while she waited for everything to settle down again.

How much more miserable could she get? Alone in this awful, cold cell with no natural light, nothing to entertain herself with, inedible food, tainted water, no medicine, and the steady _drip drip_ from some unknown source nearby. There was also a hole in a corner instead of a toilet. And no shower or other way to cleanse herself.

She had taken so much for granted. When she was at home and had a bad head cold, she could go to the medicine cabinet and find what she needed in there. Her mom or dad might have even brought it to her if it was the middle of the night and they were concerned about her persistent coughing. They'd give her a glass of cold water from the fridge to chase down whatever disgusting syrup she'd be given to help her sleep. Wrap her up until she was snug and warm. Kiss her cheek. Test her temperature and wish her goodnight as she faded back into unconsciousness.

There was food at home, too. A fridge full of it. Cupboards full of it. How many times had she opened the refrigerator doors and glanced across all of its contents before determining that none of it sounded good, so she'd walked away? What she wouldn't give now for even just a bowl of unflavored instant oatmeal. A ripe banana. Some applesauce. Rice. Toast. Ginger ale.

She missed her family. The homesickness weighed heavily on her heart. She longed for her mother's embrace. Her father's smile and forehead kisses. Seth's persistent poking and prodding of her arms and legs and wherever else he thought would annoy her the most.

Gah, Seth. If he were here, he'd make up some game or other in order to keep them both entertained. They'd huddle together and find a million things to talk, complain or argue about. He'd find some way to make her eat the awful food. She would be able to at least smile a little, even given the hopeless situation they'd be in. At least they'd be in it together. She wouldn't be alone.

The button that Bracken had enchanted was still in her pocket. She hadn't tried to use it yet, and he hadn't been back to her cell since she'd told him to leave. Mixed feelings followed her on that – she didn't trust him, so she wasn't exactly sad that he wasn't around, but she was so lonely. There was only so much quiet time alone she could endure before the demons in her mind were given free reign to stomp around and destroy whatever confidence or good emotions might have remained within her. She wasn't even sure how much time had passed since Bracken had scared the living daylights out of her. A day? Two? Maybe three?

Her head gave another tremendous throb and she tried to relax her body into the hard cot some more. A wave of nausea overcame her and it took all of her willpower to avoid succumbing to it. She felt utterly miserable. No matter how much sleep she was able to get, she was still exhausted. And the cold – she couldn't stop shivering. It was so cold in her cell. Or maybe she had a fever and it really _wasn't_ cold. She couldn't tell.

Despair laced her thoughts. For all she knew, she could die here in this cell. Maybe not today, maybe not tomorrow, maybe not for another 30 years. What an awful existence.

Another wave of nausea washed over Kendra, and this time she couldn't contain it. She rushed over to the hole in the floor and dry heaved into it. With nothing in her stomach, there really wasn't much to throw up, but her body tried anyway.

When she was done, she laid on the floor and shivered thoroughly, crying bitterly to herself for a brief moment.

Her hand went to her breast pocket and pulled out the button.

"Bracken," she choked out through a pathetic sob.

His reply was almost instantaneous. She didn't hear it with her ears – it was more like telepathy – but his concern was almost palpable.

 _Yes? What's wrong?_

"I need help," she said. _Please_ , she thought pathetically, her limbs feeling heavy and her eyes drooping involuntarily.

She didn't hear his response before blackness washed over her vision and she lost consciousness.


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4**

Kendra wearily opened her eyes when she realized someone was talking to her. Her head was pounding and she was so congested that she felt she was under water. She vaguely registered the feeling of a hand on her forehead. Her eyelids felt heavy and she let them close as her world went back to darkness.

* * *

She woke up again later. How much later, she didn't know. What time was it? Where was she? Why was she so cold?

She shivered and coughed. Her head still ached, and she felt like she was trying to think through thick fog.

"You're awake."

Kendra hastily sat up as she realized she wasn't alone, then closed her eyes and slowly sunk back down to the cot when the world started spinning. _Great_ , she thought. _Now I'm dizzy. Super fun._

"Shh shh shh," the voice said. "Relax. You're sick."

"Really? I couldn't guess," Kendra replied dryly. Her voice was hoarse and her throat hurt, so she grimaced once those words escaped her lips.

She laid on her side for another minute or two, then slowly opened her eyes when she felt hands on her head.

Bracken was on his knees in front of her cot, his eyes closed in concentration, his hands lightly resting on her head. She didn't need to ask him what he was doing – somewhere inside of her, she just intuitively _knew_.

He was trying to heal her. She smiled wanly as the pressure in her head eased up a little. It was a comforting, cooling sensation, really, and it only lasted maybe twenty seconds before Bracken leaned away from her and placed his hands on the edge of her cot in order to steady himself.

"Are you alright?" she asked tiredly. She noted that her throat didn't hurt as much as it had a minute ago.

"Yeah, I'll be fine," he answered. "Healing takes a lot out of me these days. How are you feeling?"

Slowly, Kendra sat up. She still didn't feel too terribly great, however her dizziness was gone and the throbbing in her head had ebbed to a dull ache. "Much better." Bracken smiled and opened his mouth to say something, but she interrupted him. "Thank you," she said. "For everything. Really."

His smile grew and his face developed a slightly pink hue. "It wasn't any trouble. I wish I could have done more. If I just had one of my horns…" he bowed his head and shook it.

Kendra bit her lip. She still didn't really trust the guy, but her brain had been arguing with her in her solitude. Wouldn't it make sense for at least _some_ creatures of light to be in the bad guy's prison? What if Bracken was really telling the truth, and he was genuinely a unicorn? Did creatures of darkness possess healing powers, too? Or was that a trait exclusive to the light side of things? Healing her had obviously taken a toll on him… why would he expend that much energy on her if he wasn't genuinely concerned for her wellbeing?

Doubts plagued her mind. _But what if he was another Gavin in disguise?_

She shook her head.

"I appreciate your help," she replied. "I honestly didn't know if you would actually come when I asked. I was pretty rude to you when we first met. I don't think I even told you my name… which is Kendra, by the way."

"Of course I came. I would do anything for you," he answered, obviously without thinking. Once his words registered between them, they both blushed. "I mean… No, I don't know how to recover from that one. Not even going to try." He smacked his hand into his forehead. "Changing the subject. You need to eat."

Kendra's facial expression turned sour. "That's not food," she said as he walked over to the door of her cell and picked up her meal tray.

"Trust me, _I_ _know_. However, it will keep you alive." He picked up the spoon which was provided with her meal – no other utensils had been delivered, just a spoon – and filled it with the hairy purple goop. "Now the question is, am _I_ feeding this to you, or are you going to do it yourself? Because either way, it's meant to be digested."

"I tried it already. Just… no," she said.

"You have to eat. You'll eventually die if you don't."

She sighed as her stomach churned. Perhaps in nausea, perhaps in hunger… she wasn't quite sure anymore. After a brief hesitation, she pulled the spoon out of Bracken's fingers.

"Just swallow it down fast. Less time to process textures and flavors that way."

Kendra pinched her nose and shoved the spoon in her mouth, swallowing it quickly as advised. She gagged as the purple goop went down, but she kept it from coming back up. Step in the right direction, she supposed. _Hooraaaay_.

Wow. Since when had her internal monologue become so sarcastic?

Bracken frowned. "Was it the texture or the flavor?" he asked, obviously referencing her reaction.

"Both," she said. "But you're right. Downing it was better than trying to eat it the normal way."

"Hmm," he said, touching his chin in thought. "Let me try something." He hovered one of his hands over the purple stuff and muttered a few words under his breath. When he pulled his hand away, the goop looked much the same as it had previously.

"I don't get it," Kendra said. "What'd you do to it?"

"I warmed it up a little," he replied. "Can't change the flavor, but maybe it'll be easier to eat if it's warmer?" He sounded very unsure of himself.

"It's worth a shot." She handed the spoon to him and he loaded it up again before passing it back to her. Upon receiving it, she closed her eyes and swallowed it as quickly as possible. No gag reaction that time.

"That was better," he observed. "Mental note: heat up Kendra's food for her. I can do that."

"You really don't have to," she responded.

"Apparently I do, otherwise you're going to starve yourself to death." He stared pointedly at her and she looked away from him. She really hadn't proven herself to be trustworthy with regard to self-care, had she? "You _do_ understand that part of the reason why you're so sick is because you haven't been eating, right? You _did_ catch a cold, but it's only this bad because your body has nothing to fight it off with."

"Are you my mother in disguise or something?"

Bracken scoffed at that. "I'd make a very handsome mother," he teased.

"The handsomest," Kendra teased back.

What was she doing? For real? _The handsomest?_ Did she _really_ just say that?

Bracken snatched the spoon out of her hand, filled it back up and held it out for her to take. "You've got about three spoonfuls left."

Three spoonfuls later, Kendra just wanted to curl up into a ball and fall back asleep.

"Nope," Bracken said, seemingly reading her mind. "No sleeping yet. You've still got more food to learn how to eat. And you need to drink your water."

"It tastes like dirt," she complained.

He leveled a flat look at her and she sighed before reaching out her hand to accept the piece of dry meat he pulled off of her tray. She tried to bite into it, but it was so tough that she wasn't sure how to go about eating it in the first place. It's not like she could actually tear off a piece – the whole thing was solid and it was incredibly salty. While she tried to figure it out, Bracken talked to her.

"There are other people in this dungeon," he said. "One of whom turned up about a week and a half before you did. He was severely injured – I've been helping him heal."

She paused her gnawing at that piece of information. "What?" she asked, not quite comprehending what Bracken was telling her.

"I could take you to meet him sometime," he continued. "His name is Maddox. Nice guy, although I don't particularly care for his profession. He's an ally."

Kendra almost dropped her food into her lap. "Maddox is here? Wait… is he the _real_ Maddox or is he a fake?"

"Fake? What?" Now it was Bracken's turn to be confused.

"A stingbulb," Kendra clarified.

"Ah. No, he's not a stingbulb."

She wasn't quite sure that she believed him, and she was hesitant to leave her cell.

"You don't have to go if you don't want to," Bracken stated. "I just thought I would offer a change in scenery."

"I'm not going to say _no_ ," Kendra began. "Just not today. I'm not up for adventuring right now." She started gnawing on the meat again, finding that if she worked at it long enough with her teeth, really tiny pieces that she could swallow would eventually break off from the whole.

"That's fair. You've met him before? You recognized his name."

"Yes," Kendra said, then bit her lip, wondering how much she should disclose to Bracken. "He's a friend of my grandfather's."

Bracken leaned back on his hands and took on a thoughtful expression. "It's interesting that he's the first new prisoner in a couple of decades, and then you show up not even two weeks afterward. And you apparently know each other." He paused. "It seems fishy to me. I know I said I wouldn't press you for details… but can you give me a _hint_ as to what's going on in the outside world?"

Kendra pondered for a while about how she would respond to that question. She didn't want to unintentionally give away too much information, in case Bracken was a spy, but was it okay for her to release details the Sphinx was already aware of? Ultimately, she decided that she would share the information which was already known to their enemy and nothing more.

"The Sphinx has the Font of Immortality, the Sands of Sanctity, and the Oculus," she stated. "He doesn't have the other two artifacts, but I don't know how much longer that statement will ring true."

Bracken paled in response. "I didn't realize the situation had become that dire. That is cause for great concern." He pursed his lips seriously. "I won't ask you for more information than that. I do hope that you will eventually learn to trust me, but I understand if that day doesn't arrive anytime soon. At least know that I have complete faith that _you_ are trustworthy. The Fairy Queen would not have allowed you to become fairykind if you weren't."

Well. Now she wasn't sure _what_ to think. She filed all of that information away for future Kendra to mull over.

She finished chewing on the chunk of meat and Bracken gingerly handed her the pie tin of water, careful to avoid spilling any of it. "Just some cheese left," he said. "You're doing well."

"I'm exhausted," she replied. "My head still aches, and I'm tired. Can I stop for now?"

Bracken seemed to consider her request before answering her, "Well, seeing as how I'm not _actually_ your handsome mother, I suppose I'll let you make that final decision. You've eaten enough for me to be happy about it. No skipping meals or water in the future, though, or else I'll have to take drastic measures."

She quirked an eyebrow at him. "Drastic measures? Like what?"

"Well… I could haul my own meals to your cell every day and eat with you. You know, to make sure you're actually taking care of yourself."

"Actually… I think I'd like that," Kendra replied honestly. "It's nice to have someone to talk to."

It took a heartbeat for her words to sink in, but once they did, Bracken's face broke out into a glorious smile. His expression was so infectious that she found herself smiling slightly as well.

"Then I suppose I'll see you again tonight."

* * *

No leads. They had nothing to go off of. Kendra and Navarog had seemingly disappeared; vanished into thin air. And to make matters worse, his parents had also been taken. Disappeared the day before Seth and the others had made it back to Fablehaven.

His nuclear family was gone. Were they still alive? Seth was worried sick. He tried not to think about what it meant for his future if his parents and sister were all dead.

In an effort to distract him as well as teach him to defend himself, Tanu, Coulter and sometimes even Vanessa – from her cell in the dungeon – had taken turns tutoring Seth in fencing. They promised to teach him how to use additional weapons as their lessons continued, but for now they mainly focused on correct footing and posture with him, insisting that he needed to master the basics before he could progress further. He had done well over the past couple of weeks since they'd returned from Wyrmroost.

Seth was also put into a rigorous exercise routine which, surprisingly, Dale was in charge of. Whenever the boy wasn't training with swords, he was assisting Dale with chores around the preserve. They rushed through the daily responsibilities – Seth was always impressed with how efficient his cousin was – and then they spent a good two hours or so doing some intense workout that Dale had planned. Sometimes it was swimming laps in the pool, other times it was running around specific trails on the preserve, and still other times it meant extra chores which involved lifting or throwing heavy objects in rapid succession. Occasionally Dale would mix things up and they'd both spend time in Vanessa's cell while she led them through yoga routines.

His body was gaining strength as the days went by. He was becoming more flexible, quicker on his feet, and was overall feeling less and less _useless_. Plus, an added benefit of all of the exercise meant that he was exhausted at the end of each day and often fell quickly into a dreamless sleep.

Coulter spent a lot of time trying to find out how the Translocator worked. They had the egg-shaped key, and they knew which preserve held the artifact, but they didn't know how to actually operate the device. Their knowledge of what it looked like or how to use it was practically non-existent. And without Kendra, they weren't sure if they could even use it in the first place should it need to be recharged first. But what choice did they have? They had to try. Warren was likely trapped in the extra-dimensional storage space, and if they ever found out where Kendra and their parents were being held – he refused to think of them as possibly being _dead_ – the Translocator could be infinitely helpful in rescuing them all.

The Society of the Evening Star had been silent since Wyrmroost, which was a very eerie feeling. Like a calm before the storm. A small knot of dread occupied everyone's minds as they wondered where and when they would next face off against the Society. Seth wondered if he would see Gavin again, and what he would do if that happened. Cold fury threatened to overcome him if he thought about it too much. He felt a sense of power within himself which would start to swell when he was angry, and he was oddly reassured by that sensation.

No progress had been made regarding the Translocator yet, but Seth committed himself to his training in the meanwhile. He would continue to grow, continue to learn, and continue to strengthen himself. When the time arrived for them to go and retrieve the artifact, he would be ready.

* * *

 _Thank you to all of my readers and reviewers thus far. I hope you'll continue to stick with me through this. :) I know it's a bit slow right now, but things will pick up. I'm trying to roughly adhere to the same timelines as the book series. (Did you know/remember that book 5 started 3_ _months_ _after the end of book 4?) Hang in there. Part of the reason for the slow updates now is because I'm trying to very carefully make sure that the information found within this story jives well with the book series. This may be a sort of AU, but I'd like for it to seem somewhat canonical._

 _P.S. I hadn't intended to write motherly!Bracken, but that's just kind of what happened. xD_

 _P.P.S. Yes there is foreshadowing in this chapter. Especially where Seth is concerned. Your spidey sense is correct. No spoilers._


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5**

 _Dedicated to raxtus20, who has been an amazing idea machine and sounding board. :)_

* * *

 _Hey. Kendra. Are you awake?_

She rolled over and grumbled in response, most definitely _not_ truly awake. When Bracken communicated next, she could practically _feel_ the smile in his words.

 _Our grand breakfast has been delivered. Shall I join you for our morning feast?_

Kendra cracked one eye open to peer at her cell door. Sure enough, her meal mat was on the floor in front of the door, and there was _stuff_ on it. (It still wasn't _food_ , that's for sure.) She closed her eye and grumbled again.

 _I'll be there in a little bit,_ came Bracken's cheerful reply. Kendra placed the enchanted button back into the pocket of her shirt, content to know that she should expect company soon. She'd formed a habit of sleeping with it in the palm of her hand over the past several days, and appreciated the opportunity it afforded her to prepare herself for the boy's arrival. She rested for a couple more minutes and then, deciding to take care of her morning needs before her guest arrived, she made her way over to the hole in the corner of her cell; afterwards, she walked over to her meal mat and abruptly paused.

There was a small-ish box on it this morning, in addition to the normal helpings of "nourishment" she had always been supplied with. She quirked an eyebrow at it, then picked it up and opened the top to find a nice helping of fresh red grapes inside. Her eyes widened tremendously as she quickly reached out for one of the grapes and deposited it into her mouth. The sweetness and juiciness of the fruit was an extremely welcome and delicious change from the standard fare she had been afforded. It took all of her willpower to keep from devouring the grapes as quickly as possible. A treat like that needed to be savored. Who knew if she would ever receive more in the future?

The sound of stone grating on stone rumbled throughout her cell and she turned to find a smiling Bracken who was carrying his own meal mat. She couldn't help but notice that he didn't have a box on his. "Good morning," he greeted her cheerily. "Fine weather we're having today, isn't it?"

"I have grapes," Kendra blurted out. "There were grapes in a box on my tray this morning. They're wonderful and firm and delicious and – here, have some!" She excitedly moved her meal mat to their usual breakfast and dinner spot – the middle of her cell floor – and sat down, brandishing the box at Bracken.

His jaw dropped, and then he rushed to join her on the floor. "Really? They're actually _real_?"

Kendra nodded enthusiastically. "Yes. They're really real!"

Bracken moved to grab ahold of a grape, then withdrew his hand with a slight frown on his face. "I… I can't. They're _yours_. You should have them."

She shot him an incredulous look, then said, "I'm choosing to share. Here, take them." She placed about half of the grapes into the box's lid and handed it to her companion.

The maybe-unicorn (she still wasn't convinced of that) gingerly accepted her gift, and Kendra was astounded to find deep emotion covering his facial features. He slowly chewed on one grape and his eyes took on a watery sheen as he quite obviously was mentally transported somewhere far away.

"Bracken… are you okay?" Kendra asked, a bit of concern evident in her voice. He seemed a little startled by her words and pulled himself back into the present.

"Me? Oh, yeah. Sorry for the moment there. I haven't had anything outside of prison food since, well… since I was captured," he explained, dabbing at his eyes with his threadbare shirt. "Wow. That brought back a lot of memories."

"Good ones, I hope," Kendra said.

"Yes," he answered, his voice full of longing. Shaking his head, he took on more of a teasing tone. "I'm going to complaint to the chef. He's obviously playing favorites."

"Complain away," Kendra replied. She set down the half of the box which held her remaining fruit, deciding to save the rest of the grapes for after she finished eating the other _stuff_ she'd been given. Wash down the gross with something sweet.

Silence reigned for a minute or two as Bracken and Kendra worked on their meals, until the former decided to speak up. "There's a place here I'd like to bring you to."

She looked thoughtful for a minute, then spoke. "I'm guessing you're not talking about a visit to Maddox this time?" she asked, caution present in her question. Bracken inwardly sighed. She _still_ didn't fully trust him, even after almost 3 weeks. He'd always been an honest being, and he had chosen to be particularly transparent with her in the hopes that she would eventually learn to rely on him a little.

Still, he wasn't one to complain, and while he didn't completely understand why she had trust issues (she hadn't been very forthcoming), he believed that her suspicion wasn't unfounded. He wouldn't try to push her into telling him anything personal if she didn't want to. Bracken had been hoodwinked himself in the past, and he knew how hard it could be to recover from lies.

"If I explained it to you, it would spoil the surprise," he said simply, remaining vague on purpose. His right hand poked at the chunk of dried, salty meat on his meal mat and an expression of disdain crossed his face.

Kendra hesitated. She wasn't sure how she felt about leaving her cell. Even though it was bare and not very comfortable, she still felt kind of an odd sense of safety about the place. Did she really want to leave, if it didn't mean she was going home? If it meant she was going somewhere else which might potentially be unsafe?

And what about Bracken? Did she really trust him? If she was being honest with herself, that answer was mostly yes. He'd never asked her to reveal any personal information about herself or her family or even the circumstances which had brought her to the dungeon. He'd helped to heal her when she was sick. And he'd been sharing every meal with her for the past week or so. Despite the barriers she had thrown up between herself and the rest of the world, she felt a strange sort of kinship or friendship with Bracken that she couldn't quite define. And along with that undefined relationship of sorts came a modicum of trust. Not complete, not whole, but it had already started to form.

If she was also being honest with herself, she _was_ curious about the other places Bracken visited in the dungeon. But did she trust him enough to venture out with him into the tunnels?

"You don't have to come if you don't want to. I just thought I'd offer. I know how this place exacerbates negative thoughts and emotions, and well… to be honest, I would be bored of my cell by now if I were you."

Kendra couldn't help but snort a little at that last part. Bored indeed. If Seth were here instead of her, he'd probably have followed Bracken out into the passageways as soon as they met without so much as a backwards glance, all in the name of boredom.

He was right, though. She was plenty bored.

"What kind of place is it?" she asked.

"Well… I'd like to keep it a surprise," Bracken responded. Kendra raised an eyebrow and Bracken held his hand up in order to keep her from interrupting him. "But on second thought, I can tell you're not up for surprises, though." He paused briefly and bit his bottom lip while he thought quickly. "There's a room here in the dungeon which has things in it – workout equipment and the like. A television, some movies, a few board games. It's not heaven, of course, and it doesn't compare to being outside of these walls… but it sure beats sitting around all day doing nothing."

Kendra's brows furrowed. "The dungeon has a recreation room?" she asked, the question riddled with skepticism. "Really?"

"Pretty much," Bracken answered. "I know it sounds crazy, but yes." He looked at her hopefully. "Will you come with me?"

She looked up at him. "Well…" she began. "I suppose if you'd wanted to kill me, you could've already done that." She noticed a tremendous smile break out onto his already indescribably attractive face, which only succeeded to make him look even more handsome. She couldn't help but smile in return.

Her inner self rolled her eyes at her own thought processes.

They finished their meal with light discussion – it was mostly Bracken rambling excitedly about the rec room, and agreeing to take her to see Maddox first when she'd asked. When they were done, Bracken stood up and offered her his hand to help get her up off of the floor. She accepted his offer, placing her hand in his long enough for him to pull her into a standing position.

"Where to?" Kendra asked.

"Follow me," he said, turning around and guiding her toward the hole in the wall he'd opened earlier. He was exuding happiness at the idea that she was finally tagging along with him.

"So, this rec room… how long has it been here?" Kendra asked after a minute or so as Bracken led her over a series of hurdles in the dirty passageway.

He shrugged his shoulders. "No one really knows. It existed before I was imprisoned, although its contents have changed drastically as the years have passed."

"'No one really knows…?' Who else do you talk to here?"

He paused to lend her a hand after he climbed up a particularly tall piece of stone. "There aren't an enormous number of other prisoners whose cells I frequent. You're my favorite. But there are a few beings who I keep in touch with from time to time. They each have one of my communicator coins. We contact each other as we learn things." Bracken placed a finger to his lips and whispered, "Quiet for this next stretch – the walls are thin."

Kendra remained silent as they continued to make their way through the damp, somewhat dark and dirty passageway. Eventually Bracken told her that they were alright to recommence conversation.

"So you have contacts who inform you of new happenings in the dungeon?" she sked. "What, are you trying to organize a coup?"

Bracken froze in his tracks and turned to look at her. "What would make you think that?" he asked.

"I guessed it, didn't I?" she more stated than asked. "It sounds like you're setting up a network of spies. Seems to be the beginnings of a revolution to me."

He smiled, but mirth was absent from his face. "You're quick to connect the dots," he said. "This particular topic is best discussed in whispers, in the deeper parts of the dungeon where others are less likely to overhear. We are too far up. I promise to say more when it is safer to do so."

Kendra was actually surprised that he owned up to it so quickly. "Wait. Just like that? I'm in? You'll tell me your secret plans?" Then after a pause she added, "What's the catch?"

"No catch," Bracken said. "You don't have to trust me, but if the Fairy Queen trusts you, then so do I."

Well. That was interesting.

* * *

Up, down. Up, down. Up, down.

23\. 24. 25.

Seth hated sit-ups, but he was getting better at them every day.

30\. 31. 32.

Up, down. Up, down. Up, down.

"Okay, that's enough," Dale said once Seth had done 50 of them. He then tossed the boy a wooden sword and said, "Behind you."

Seth whirled around and ducked as another wooden sword came careening toward his shoulder, then lunged upward with his weapon in order to block the next swing which was aimed toward him. His block was successful; however, he didn't react quickly enough to block Vanessa's next stroke and she tagged the side of one of his knees. "You're missing a leg now," she announced.

The boy threw his wooden sword to the ground and let out a growl of frustration. "I'm getting nowhere with this," he said. "How am I supposed to become proficient enough with a sword to fight against way older magical things who've had a ton more time than me to master this? I'm not progressing fast enough, and Kendra needs me!"

Vanessa shared a look with Dale. The two adults seemed to silently communicate for a few seconds before Vanessa responded, "You've made so much progress. It's only been a little over three weeks."

"Cut yourself some slack," Dale said. "You're 13, and you haven't been trained since birth. This is a skill which takes time to develop. It's also the reason why Vanessa's the one teaching you how to sword fight – she's an expert."

"Not an expert," Vanessa insisted. "But I do know a thing or two."

Dale shrugged. "You know more than me. I'm a total novice there."

Seth slumped to the ground. He was exhausted. Dale had run him through more of a wringer than usual today, and the sheer stress of the past three weeks was taking its toll on him. It was hard to feel like he would ever be effective in combat, and it was also hard to feel hopeful that he would be able to help rescue his sister… assuming she was even still alive.

"What if… what if she's dead?" Seth voiced. The insecurity in his tone echoed throughout Vanessa's cell in the dungeon.

The adults again shared a long look, and then they simultaneously crouched down to Seth's level where he was sitting on the floor.

"Don't think that way," Vanessa said. "She'll be found. I know she will be. I can _feel_ it. And everything you're learning here will help. It _will_. I'm certain of it." She placed a hand on Seth's shoulder and Dale placed a hand on Seth's back.

"We'll get her back," Dale insisted.

"How?" Seth asked, choking back tears. "We don't even know where she is. She could've been eaten by a dragon for all we know." And then, before he knew it, he was freely crying. Vanessa immediately wrapped her arms around him, and Dale wrapped his arms around both of them.

"I know I always tease her and I do things to get on her nerves, but I love her. She's my sister. She's my favorite person in the world. What am I supposed to do if she's dead?" Seth shuddered and Vanessa held him tighter in response.

"I have the same concerns about Warren," Dale said softly. "We have to try. We have to do our best to get them back."

It wasn't the same, Seth thought. He didn't give voice to that thought, but it really _wasn't_ the same. They knew where Warren probably was – in the storage space which had at one point been tied to the knapsack he'd seen the burnt remnants of. They had the key to retrieve the Translocator. They knew which preserve held the magical object, and as soon as they had it they'd be able to rescue Warren lickety-split. Kendra was simply nowhere to be found.

It was hard to maintain hope.

* * *

 _Sorry for the delay. I had written almost this entire chapter like... 3 months ago or something, and then I realized that a giant portion of it contradicted what I'd posted in chapter 4. Grrrrrr. It took me a while to work up the nerve to be willing to delete what I'd already written. I hate wasting words. :( Hopefully I'll be able to repurpose some of it for the next chapter._

 _I hope you enjoy! :)_


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter 6**

Seth had been training hard, but he didn't feel like it was enough. Sure, he could now hold a sword pretty competently and had learned some cool moves with a knife, but this was potentially the end of the world they were supposed to be preparing for and Seth had the feeling that the enemies they were about to face were not going to feel threatened by his limited offensive and defensive capabilities. At least not _now_. Seth had a weapon that he knew few humans possessed or fully understood, though. He just needed to learn how to use it; and for that, he needed a teacher.

Hence why he had come to this place, even though he _knew_ his grandparents and probably everyone else would have vehemently disapproved. He didn't care; time was never on their side these days, and he needed to learn how to become a strong force to be reckoned with, as quickly as possible.

Graulas looked as weak as ever, chest heaving with every inhaled breath, and his cave reeked of death and decay. He slightly opened his eyes in reaction to hearing the boy's footsteps draw closer to him, but didn't otherwise acknowledge the additional presence in his cave.

Seth looked at the demon lying at his feet and said, "Hello?"

"Why have you come here… Seth Sorenson?" Graulas' deep voice rumbled about the cave. The demon spoke slowly, his eyes closing again in a wince as though his words were causing him pain.

"I need help," the boy answered. "I want to learn how to use my powers as a shadow charmer. Can you teach me?"

Another rumbling sound was heard – Seth thought it sounded like rocks grinding together. Graulas inhaled a very large breath and released it slowly, but didn't say anything.

"Please," Seth added.

"You should not trust me," Graulas wheezed.

"I know I shouldn't. But I have nowhere else to turn. I need to learn and I need to do it as quickly as possible. We're running out of time–" Seth stopped himself from saying anything more by biting his lip. He needed to be careful about what kind of information he released.

"Running out of time?" The demon's eyes had fully opened at that remark.

Seth ran a hand through his hair, letting out a long exhale to give himself time to think before he spoke further. "Look, I just… I want to learn," he eventually said.

Graulas rolled onto his side and considered the boy who stood before him. "I'm curious to know what you are running out of time to do. I have seen you training lately. I did not think it was particularly important until now." He paused to take in a ragged breath. "The personal affairs of humans do not particularly interest me, although you have always been somewhat of an exception."

"Please, Graulas," Seth replied. "My sister has been kidnapped. I need to save her, and to do that I need to learn about my abilities."

Graulas closed his eyes again for a moment, then reopened them and said, "You come to ask me for a favor."

"Yes. I want to learn."

"Seth Sorenson, my assistance comes at a price."

Seth quickly nodded his head once. "You've helped me in the past without a bargain, but I kind of figured you might ask for something in return this time around."

"You are prepared to enter into a pact with a demon in order to possibly gain a small chance of reclaiming your sister?"

"She's my sister. I would do anything to get her back." Seth's words were spoken with profound resolution. He'd made up his mind.

Graulas coughed and spat a wad of phlegm into a nearby corner. "Very well. Seth Sorenson, my price is contingent upon your future success. Your sister has been blessed by fairies. She possesses the power to heal wounds." The demon gestured to his entire body and stated, "I am in great pain. Dying, yes. Nothing will change that. However, what I seek is for my wounds and sores to be healed. It would ease my pain as I slowly succumb to the illness which has me bound."

"You want my sister to heal you?" Seth asked, furrowing his brow. "She doesn't know how to do that. I didn't know she could do that, either."

"This is my price," Graulas replied. "If your sister refuses to heal me, I require you to secure a talisman or another object which will perform the action."

"Deal," Seth said. "I'll do it."

"Very well," the demon responded. "Seth Sorenson, you have entered into an agreement which cannot be broken. To do so would result in your immediate death. You must follow through with your part of the arrangement, as must I." Seth could understand the words which Graulas spoke, however he got the distinct feeling that the demon was not speaking English.

"Thank you," Seth whispered, hoping that the demon's mentoring would ultimately result in his sister's safe return.

"We begin tomorrow night," Graulas stated.

* * *

The rec room was indeed that – a rec room. Complete with pool table and a stack of board games in one of the corners. There was a treadmill and an elliptical machine against one wall, along with some weight lifting gear. In another corner sat a couch and a large television set, beneath which stood a book shelf with DVDs on it. Yet another one of the walls was lined with additional bookshelves, all of which were full of various texts.

 _This is ridiculous,_ Kendra thought. "Who on earth puts a rec room in a _dungeon?_ " she asked out loud. It was meant to be a rhetorical question, but Bracken responded anyway.

"It's probably intended to keep us prisoners busy. The Sphinx is an odd man. So long as we behave well, this room remains filled and is frequently updated with new items. If we misbehave, however, things start to go missing." Bracken shrugged his shoulders. "This place has changed a lot over the years."

"Oh yeah? What kinds of things were here when you first arrived?"

"Hmm. Mostly books and painting or drawing supplies. There also wasn't electricity back then, so we were supplied with magical candles which lit and extinguished their wicks when you blew on them."

"There wasn't electricity? How long have you _been_ here?"

"Too long."

Kendra stared at him. "You look like you're _maybe_ 17\. Electricity has been in existence for a lot longer than 17 years."

Bracken shrugged his shoulders. "I told you, I'm a unicorn. By your standards, I'm ancient. By unicorn standards, though, I'm not quite yet an adult."

Kendra strode toward the exercise equipment and paused once she reached the treadmill. It'd been quite a while since she'd run. How long had she been there? A few weeks? Had she really not gone running for a few weeks? She was _so_ going to take advantage of this machine. One thing bothered her, though – if she was going to start running again, she'd need a lot more water than what she was being rationed.

"Too bad there's not a water cooler or something," she mused aloud. "I'd love to start running again."

"You enjoy running?" Bracken asked.

"Yeah," she replied. "I used to play soccer." She missed playing the game. Her last game felt like it happened a lifetime ago.

"Ah. Soccer is a great game."

Kendra raised an eyebrow. "Do you play, too?"

"Once upon a time. The rules were different back then." Bracken shrugged and gestured to the television in the room. "I've watched your version of soccer on TV, though."

She made her way over to the book shelves and ran her fingers over the various spines as she read the titles. Many foreign languages were represented; she had no idea what most of the books said, although the writing was pretty.

"Do you like to read?" Bracken asked.

Kendra looked over at him and withdrew her hand from the books. "Yes."

"This one is particularly good if you enjoy old fables," he said, reaching for a red book with gold lettering on the front.

"What language is that in?" Kendra furrowed her eyebrows as she tried to figure it out.

"Greek." He thumbed through the pages of the book, then noticed the expression on Kendra's face. "I take it you don't speak Greek."

"Not even a little bit," she answered. "Thanks for the gesture, though." She turned around to face the room at large and wandered over to the DVD selection. After days on end of nothing to do, she was grateful for the entertainment this room provided. It was an _incredibly_ odd place, though – she still couldn't wrap her brain around the idea of a recreation room inside of a _dungeon_ of all places.

She heard shuffling papers from behind her and when she glanced at where the noise was coming from, she found Bracken sorting through a pile of colored paper which was resting atop a small table not far from the bookshelves. He eventually pulled out a yellow piece of paper and sat down at the table, then reached for one of the pencils which was held in a plastic box next to the pile of paper. Kendra observed him out of curiosity for a few moments, then averted her gaze when he glanced up and made eye contact with her.

"Don't mind me, I'm just… I enjoy sketching," he explained.

"I can see that."

"It helps pass the time."

Kendra looked back toward the DVDs again. "You don't have to justify yourself to me. It's cool that you like art." She paused for a moment, then said, "The Sphinx has interesting taste in movies."

Bracken chuckled. "Indeed."

"Lord of the Rings, The Notebook, Serendipity, Napoleon Dynamite…? And then a big international section with movies in all sorts of different languages." Dramas, romcoms, horror and action movies were all mixed up with each other, with the occasional cartoon thrown in there for good measure. It had to be the strangest assortment of movies she'd seen in, well… a dungeon rec room. Sure. Why not. The oddness of the movie collection suddenly made sense.

"I can't say I understood Napoleon Dynamite." Bracken shook his head, although she too was busy reading the DVD titles to notice. "I felt like it was supposed to be a comedy, but I didn't find it funny."

Kendra smiled, then straightened up and headed over to the table where Bracken was currently seated. "Mind if I sit with you?"

"Not at all," he replied as she pulled out a chair for herself and took a seat.

"What are you drawing?" Kendra leaned over the table and rested her head in one of her hands, propping herself up with an elbow as she tried to look at what Bracken was doing.

"This one is a sunflower," he explained, showing her the quick sketch he'd created.

"Wow. That's really good," Kendra commented, taking the drawing from him for a minute so she could take a closer look. It was missing details – he'd only been sketching for a few minutes, after all – but she was impressed with how it looked thus far. The handsome guy knew how to draw. Why not just add to the continually growing list of positive attributes for the unicorn boy. "Is there anything you _can't_ do?"

"I don't color," he said, frowning.

 _Oh no. He doesn't color. What a travesty._

She really needed to get her inner sarcasm problem under control.

"Hey. About earlier. In the tunnels," Kendra began.

"Yes?"

"You mentioned that there are other beings who you keep in touch with, and I said it sounded like you were trying to plan a coup."

Bracken sat back in his chair and considered her. "That's somewhat true."

"Somewhat?"

"It's not an organized effort. More like… preparations are underway, but we are not ready to revolt at this precise moment in time."

"Have you tried to escape before?"

"Many times." Bracken started working on his drawing again while he spoke. "Obviously none of my attempts have been successful."

"What happened?"

"We were punished with an absence of food for several days. The guards collapsed as many tunnels as they could find. This room was emptied of its contents." He paused and peered up at Kendra for a moment. "Some of us perished in the effort."

Kendra bit her lip. "We have to get out of here."

"I agree with you. The trouble is figuring out exactly how to make that happen. I've been trying to get out of here for hundreds of years. I don't want to admit that this dungeon is impenetrable, however… the lack of successful escape is quite disheartening."

"Maybe we can figure it out. Together."

Bracken stopped drawing and put his pencil down on the paper in front of him, then gave her his undivided attention. "What do you propose?"

"Tell me about your past attempts. There has to be something you've missed before. Maybe a pair of fresh eyes can help figure out what's missing so we can get out of here."

He considered her for a moment, then smiled. "I knew I liked you," he said. "Let's start tomorrow. Our evening feast is going to be delivered shortly; we should pause for the night."

Kendra didn't know how he knew dinner was on its way, but she trusted his instincts. She also trusted him enough to believe that he wouldn't spill his guts to the Sphinx and tell him all about how she was trying to cause trouble.

Kendra. Causing trouble.

If only Seth could see her now.

* * *

 _Sorry for the delayed chapter… if you've kept up with my other works, you can tell that I've been distracted lately by other (fluffier) ideas. xD_

 _By the way – I've declared January 26_ _th_ _this year as Kendra & Seth day on tumblr. If you'd like to participate, or just want to observe, the details are all on my tumblr side blog named "Fablehaven Ship Fest." My main blog, aerinmelina, has also reblogged the details, although those posts are probably buried among a bunch of others. At any rate, I hope to see you participate! It'll be fun to get some more content for our fandom this year!_

 _As always, thank you for reading! And thank you for the reviews and favorites! :)_


	7. Chapter 7

**Chapter 7**

It had been three weeks since Bracken had first introduced Kendra to the dungeon's rec room. Kendra woke every morning to a small serving of fresh fruit with her meal, and usually received some sort of fresh vegetable with her evening meals. A small dessert would occasionally be given to her as well, which was always a pleasant surprise.

Kendra and Bracken ate every meal together. She shared her fruits, vegetables and desserts with him and, despite his initial protests, he gladly and gratefully partook of her offerings. They visited Maddox nearly every day – he had been severely wounded when Kendra had first seen him, however, with Bracken's persistent help, he was nearly fully recovered at this point. He never left his cell, though.

A lot of time was spent in the rec room. The day after she'd first been there, a water cooler appeared along with a few replacement jugs of water. Kendra took that as a sign and began an intense exercise regimen that day. Bracken was hesitant to join her at first – he explained later that he hadn't wanted her to feel like he was crowding her – but after a couple of days he began working alongside her.

He spoke a lot while they exercised. Sometimes he read to her from one of the books she couldn't understand while she jogged on the treadmill and he occupied the elliptical or vice versa. Other times, he told her about the other occupants in the dungeon and the previous escape attempts. He sometimes talked about his life before the dungeon, but not enough for Kendra to really get a sense of how old he was or how long he'd been trapped. His personal life was still largely a mystery to her, although she supposed that was fair trade since she hadn't really told him a lot about her personal life either.

When they weren't exercising, Bracken enjoyed sketching while Kendra read stories or wrote on some of the loose sheets of paper. She'd started keeping a journal of sorts; it was comprised of loose pieces of paper and had no binding, but she wrote her thoughts down anyway. She kept the journal entries beneath the cot in her cell.

Bracken liked it when Kendra would tell him stories – ones she'd read, watched on TV at some point, or made up on the spot (most of those ones were short and would typically contain some snark or sarcasm as she included some horrendously obvious moral in order to make fun of him). They watched movies on occasion, which often devolved into the two of them creating their own commentary to go with the films.

They spoke a _lot_ about escaping. Plans were formed and then canceled, re-formed and canceled again whenever they learned some new piece of information. There had been no true progress on that front. They had spent a lot of time sneaking around in the walls, spying on the dungeon guards and trying to discern any weaknesses in their routines, but had turned up empty. Still, they had to at least _try_.

"Kendra," Bracken began, interrupting her thought processes. "How would you feel about sparring?"

She looked up from where she'd been writing and made eye contact with him. "Sparring?" she asked.

"Yes," he answered. "Like practice fighting."

"I know what sparring is. Just… where would we do that? This room is a little too full of things for us to be able to move around easily, and my cell is too small."

"My cell is large enough," he suggested.

Kendra shrugged her shoulders and resumed writing. She hadn't seen his cell yet, but he'd talked previously about how tiny hers was (it really wasn't) so she'd always just assumed that his was larger. "Sure," she agreed, willing herself to quell her inner suspicions. Bracken wasn't going to _do_ anything to her, after all. She hoped. Well… he'd had ample opportunities and hadn't done anything to her _thus far_ , anyway. "When were you thinking about starting?"

He seemed pleased by her willingness. "What does your schedule look like this afternoon?"

"Well… I _do_ have an appointment at the dungeon spa at 3 that I really don't want to miss, followed by a trip to a hair salon and dinner at the classiest restaurant in town," she replied, noting the way he smiled at her wit. "But I suppose I could pencil you in for after I'm done writing."

"Great," he replied, smiling at her. "I'll finish my drawing, and you finish your writing."

* * *

They were on their way to Bracken's cell when he very suddenly stopped walking, which caused Kendra to crash right into him. "What happened? Are you okay? Why'd you stop?"

"Someone is in my cell," he answered, disbelief clearly evident on his face.

"What? How do you know?"

"I placed an enchantment on it so that I would be alerted if someone entered while I was away. No one has come to see me before. Hardly anyone ever goes that deep into the dungeon." He turned and looked at her. "I don't know what to make of this development."

Kendra thought for a moment. "Do you want to avoid going to see whoever your intruder is? Or do you want to meet them?"

Bracken bit his lip. "I'm undecided. On the one hand, curiosity is an insatiable quality, and on the other hand, well… it also kills cats."

Kendra snorted. "Something like that."

He kicked at a few loose rocks on the ground. "I'm going. Would you still like to accompany me? I'll understand if you'd prefer to head back to your own cell, or back to the rec room."

"It's okay. I'll stick with you."

Bracken smiled and motioned forward. The two of them continued their long descent through multiple shafts and crude tunnels. Everything was damp, and some sort of strange moss had grown in a few of the nooks and crannies despite the lack of sun exposure. Eventually they reached an area which widened out into what looked like a large natural cave with even more crudely-dug tunnels branching out of it. Bracken led her down one of the side shafts and paused as they reached the end of it. He sent a cautious expression toward her, then waved his hand and briefly sang something that Kendra couldn't understand - it must have been a spell. A portal appeared in front of him, and he straightened his posture as he spoke.

"Who are you?" Bracken asked. His tone of voice was extremely stern and he motioned behind him for Kendra to stay put.

"Ah, so _you're_ the unicorn who is planning an escape."

Kendra raised a hand to cover her mouth. She knew that voice. No. _No!_

Bracken maintained his stern tone and continued to hold his hand behind him in a gesture for Kendra to remain in place. "Not once in my many years here have I received a visitor to my cell, let alone a non-human one at that. So I ask you again - _who are you?_ "

Kendra quickly reached into her shirt pocket and pulled out the button that Bracken had enchanted and given to her all those weeks ago. _Navarog,_ she thought at him. _It's Navarog._ She tried hard to fight back against the rising panic within her, but she couldn't prevent it from rising to the forefront of her mind. That, and anger at the Sphinx - he'd said she would be protected here!

Bracken seemed confused by her thoughts, but his back visibly stiffened when she'd told him who his uninvited guest was. He reached his hand up his sleeve and pulled out a short, jagged knife from Kendra-couldn't-tell-where and held it close to his back.

 _I'm outmatched without my horns,_ Bracken's voice echoed in her head. _I want you to head back up to your cell._

Kendra wanted to flee. She wanted to do exactly what Bracken told her to do. She knew how strong Gavin was when he wasn't in dragon form - she'd witnessed him in action on several occasions, and she suspected now that he had been holding back previously. But something pulled at her to stay; she couldn't stand to leave Bracken alone. What if something happened to him?

What would her brother do?

Steeling herself, Kendra responded to Bracken, _I'm not leaving you._

"Kendra, dear, come out from behind the unicorn," Navarog beckoned.

"She's not here," Bracken coolly lied.

"Hmm. The unicorn lies. Interesting," Navarog replied. "I wonder how Kendra feels about _that._ "

"Leave," Bracken commanded.

"I would recognize her light anywhere. She is clearly behind you. Don't worry; I won't hurt her."

"Leave," Bracken repeated himself.

"No. I've been instructed to transfer you to another cell. No more cavorting around with the fairy princess." Navarog clicked his tongue against the roof of his mouth a couple of times. "Kendra, honestly. I know you're there. Come say hello. Or haven't you enjoyed my gifts?"

Kendra paled. _Gifts?_ What had _he_ given her?

Fruits. Vegetables. A blanket. Occasional dessert.

 _Those_ gifts? Those things came from _Navarog?_

She resisted the urge to vomit.

"Not feeling chatty today, are we?" Navarog asked. "If this is the gratitude I receive in exchange for my generosity, I'm inclined to refrain from providing such peace offerings in the future."

"Keep your gifts," Kendra called out, stepping around Bracken to glare at her enemy. Bracken's face fell when she moved past him and stepped into his cell. He hastily followed her. "Keep them and shove them-"

"Such language!" Navarog cried, clapping his hands together as though he were pleased. He took a few steps toward her and continued his train of thought. "Look at that dark side of yours. I know it's there, Kendra. The things I could teach you-"

Bracken rushed forward. "You will do nothing of the sort," he objected, his words laced with poison. "Kendra is under _my_ protection. You would do well to refrain from speaking to her as anything less than the truly remarkable person she is." Kendra felt a sudden surge of affection for her friend - _yes_ , her friend; she could finally admit it. His words and actions surprised her - but _should_ they have, really? She'd spent a lot of time with him over the past several weeks. He'd shown her that he was thoughtful and kind. He'd shown her that he was willing to work to earn her trust. He'd always respected her boundaries and never pushed her to do anything she wasn't comfortable with, despite the fact that she knew her continued distrust had disappointed him.

" _You're_ her protector, are you?" A scowl crossed his face. "A bit of a pathetic one at that. No horns, and armed with only a crude pocket knife?" Navarog made eye contact with Kendra, who defiantly returned his gaze. "Remember when _I_ used to be your protector, Kendra?"

"A bit of a pathetic one at that," she spat back at him.

"No, Kendra. Did I lie? Yes. Did I deceive you? Yes. But _pathetic?_ I was _never_ pathetic." He moved toward her again, and Bracken stepped between them once more.

"Leave her alone," Bracken demanded. "Your ire is with me."

"No, unicorn, my ire is truly with _her_ this time," Navarog insisted. "Not the broken son of the Fairy Queen."

Kendra gasped. Bracken was _what?!_

"Oh, he didn't tell you?" Navarog smirked. "You've discovered a lot about him today, haven't you, Kendra?" He began to try and circle Bracken, who persistently moved himself so that he was always between Kendra and the demon dragon. "He lies, _and_ he's been withholding what is, arguably, _important_ information from you." He leaned in toward Bracken and pointed a finger at the other man's chest. "We're not so different, him and I."

"Everything about you is different," Kendra yelled. " _Everything!_ Bracken is kind and patient and caring and everything I thought you were - _and more!_ Don't you even _compare_ yourself to him. _You will never measure up!_ "

Navarog turned his gaze to Kendra once more, a dark expression covering his face. "You used to feel that way about me," he said.

Kendra nodded even as her cheeks burned. "Yes," she told him. "I did. But that all changed as soon as you morphed into an evil dragon, murdered my friends, and trapped me in this dungeon indefinitely. I'm done with you. _I'm done._ "

"That's enough," Bracken interjected himself into the conversation. "Leave this place at once."

"Or what? You'll take a swing at me with your pathetic knife?"

 _I'm sorry, Kendra,_ she heard Bracken's voice in her mind. _I told you, I am outmatched at the moment. Please... please, just... tell my mother that I did my best._

Kendra's eyes widened in horror as she watched Bracken dart forward and tackle Navarog to the ground. The boys wrestled around on the floor, each vying for power over the other, while Kendra's thoughts raced through her head at lightning speed. She couldn't allow this to happen. No!

She ran to the door of Bracken's cell and screamed for help as loudly as she could. A clattering noise directed her attention back toward the boys, and she noted with despair that Navarog had wrested the knife out of Bracken's hand and sent it skidding across the stone floor. Kendra continued to scream for help as Navarog punched Bracken in his face, then tried to throw him against the nearest wall so he could fully regain his footing. Bracken clutched at Navarog's shoulders and didn't release them, however, so the attempt to throw the unicorn against the wall failed. Kendra watched as Bracken kicked Navarog in his chest and then ran away in order to regain possession of his knife.

She screamed and screamed, even as she heard heavy footsteps in the hallway outside of the door. Even as the door opened and several goblins rushed into the cell, followed by the Sphinx himself. She screamed as the knife was once again wrenched from Bracken's grip. Screamed as Navarog stabbed her friend in the stomach. As she watched Bracken crumple to the ground.

She screamed even though all sound seemed to disappear as blood pooled around him. Silver blood. Silver because he _wasn't human_. Silver because he _was_ truly a unicorn, just as he'd said all this time. Silver because he was also, possibly, the Fairy Queen's son.

The Sphinx shouted some orders at the goblins in the cell, and then Navarog was dragged outside. Time slowed down. She watched the Sphinx kneel down next to Bracken and shake his head.

"No!" she screamed when the Sphinx reached out a hand toward the unicorn. "Don't you touch him! Don't touch him!"

She could tell that the Sphinx was trying to say something to her, but his words didn't register. The sound of her own blood pumping through her veins drowned out all other noise. She ran to Bracken's side and frantically tore open his shirt to see his wound. The Sphinx once again moved to touch the unicorn, but Kendra slapped his hands away. A power seemed to build up inside of her. Warm and filled with light, she let it overwhelm her senses. The sensation coursed through her entire body, saturating every part of her with a sense of righteous anger and incredibly deep concern for the man in her direct focus. She laid both of her hands on top of his wound - he flinched in obvious pain as she did so, but she paid him no heed as she continued to let the sensation guide her actions. Slowly, a little at a time, the warmth all seemed to gather at her fingertips and exit her body from there. She was only vaguely aware of her surroundings, and didn't notice the utterly gobsmacked expression which had filled the Sphinx's face. If she had, she might've felt satisfied with herself. As it stood in that moment, all she could truly focus on was the feeling of warmth leaving her body and entering Bracken's.

Slowly, she started to regain her senses. She began to feel lightheaded and fatigued. A hand covered hers as her vision started swimming. She blinked and followed the hand to realize that it was Bracken's. He was talking to her. She blinked a few more times and started to consciously breathe and try to focus on what he was saying to her.

"Stop," he said. "Kendra, stop."

She blinked once more. _Stop what?_

 _Let go of me,_ he spoke to her mind. _Kendra, let go._

She shook her head. "You're hurt," she said aloud. "I won't leave you."

"Kendra, you have to let him go," the Sphinx's cool voice chimed in. "Before you exhaust yourself."

"He's _dying_ ," she protested.

"I'll be alright," Bracken insisted. "You've healed me. I promise. Kendra, let go."

 _Focus_ , his voice once again echoed in her mind. _Breathe in. Breathe out. Good. Keep breathing. Now pay attention to your hands. Can you feel your fingertips? Your palms? The backs of your hands?_

 _Yes._

 _Alright. Listen closely. Focus on your hands. Move them so that they are touching each other, palm to palm._

Kendra did as Bracken instructed, and immediately felt the warm power dissipate. Fatigue and dizziness entered the void which had been left behind. She clutched at her head, then noticed that her face was wet. Tears? Had she been crying?

Bracken sat up and pulled her close to him in an embrace. She held onto her head as tears continued to fall, then wrapped her arms around Bracken and began to sob more freely.

The Sphinx stood up. "Are you alright?" he asked. Oddly enough, he actually sounded concerned.

"I will be," Bracken replied. "She will be, too."

"I didn't know this would happen," the Sphinx stated.

"It did." Bracken's voice adopted a stern tone once more. "Unless you're going to let us walk out of here forever, then leave."

The Sphinx exited Bracken's cell, pulling the door shut behind him as he left. The sound of the bolt sliding back into place echoed around the room.

Bracken held Kendra until they both fell asleep on the cold stone floor from sheer exhaustion.


	8. Chapter 8

**Chapter 8**

"Alright, Kendra. Focus. Concentrate on your breathing."

She sighed in frustration. Kendra and Bracken sat cross-legged in front of each other, their knees almost touching due to their proximity. He was trying to teach her how to consciously control the energy within her, but it wasn't working. She opened her eyes and looked straight at him. "I've had enough of this for today."

Bracken pursed his lips. "You asked me to teach you," he pointed out.

"Yeah. And I'm done for now."

"Tomorrow, then?"

"Sure." She noncommittally answered as she tossed her hair over her shoulder and stood up. "I feel antsy. I think it's time to exercise."

Bracken also stood up, however he made his way over to the bookshelf in the room while Kendra started the treadmill. "You know," he began, glancing at her while she ran, "you never did tell me how you know Navarog."

Kendra nearly tripped over her own feet at that remark, but she recovered quickly and kept running. Her shoulders tensed up and she pointedly directed her gaze to the wall directly in front of her. "I don't want to talk about it," she said.

The unicorn ran his fingers over the spines of a few books with disinterest. "We've been in this dungeon together for nearly ten weeks now. I've not once asked you-" he paused, curled his fingers together and lightly banged the side of his closed fist against the bookshelf.

His unusual behavior caught Kendra's attention. She looked over at him in question, but his eyes were pointed toward the ceiling.

"Let me rephrase." He cleared his throat. "Do you trust me?"

She kept quiet.

Bracken bowed his head and lightly shook it from side to side. "I'm trapped in a dungeon with a girl who still doesn't trust me, even after everything that's happened." She was positive that he hadn't said it in English, but she understood his words anyway.

Kendra closed her eyes as she gathered her wits about her, then turned off the treadmill and walked over to the couch where she plopped herself down. She patted the seat next to her and, when Bracken didn't immediately join her, she said, "I trust you with a lot of things. Against my better judgment. I just don't know if I can fully trust someone who I obviously don't know much about, Mister-Apparent-Son-Of-My-Boss."

"Please keep that quiet," he stated. "Very few beings know who I am in relation to my mother. It's important that that detail remain private." He still didn't make a move to join her on the couch.

"Will you come sit down?" she asked, annoyance seeping into her voice.

"Why?"

"You clearly want to talk. Let's talk."

"I don't want to talk. You're the one who wants to talk."

"You started it."

Bracken bowed his head again and his shoulders began to shake with mirth, which only served to further annoy Kendra. "What are you laughing at?"

"Us. Our situation. This conversation."

"Are you going to say words that actually make sense, or am I going to back to jogging?"

"Are you really that upset about the identity of my mother?"

Kendra rolled her eyes. "Forget jogging. I'm going to be sprinting." She made to stand up again, but this time Bracken actually turned himself to face her and made eye contact.

"We're arguing. We haven't argued before." He moved away from the wall and sat down on the couch with Kendra, although kept some distance between them. "It's natural that after so much time together, something will spark annoyance between us. It was bound to happen. What puzzles me is the root cause. Is it the identity of my mother? The appearance of Navarog?" He paused. "I haven't been able to connect all of the dots together. I feel like I'm missing some key factors; all I'm trying to do is figure out what's missing."

She thought for a minute before she responded. "I hate liars," she stated simply.

"I didn't lie to you, Kendra."

"You didn't tell me who you were."

"I did tell you who I was. I told you who I was when we first met. I believe my exact words were, 'I'm a unicorn.'"

"Not that. You didn't tell me who you really were."

"Well neither have you," Bracken answered calmly, folding his arms across his chest and leaning back on the couch. "I know a lot about your personality by now. Your likes and dislikes. Your habits and your speech patterns. I know that you are fairykind. I know that you possess a gentle heart, you enjoy learning new things and are creative in a way that is different from me. You are witty and clever. But beyond that, I know next to nothing. Do you have siblings? Who are your parents? Maybe your lineage should be cause for concern to me."

Kendra paused. "I doubt my family would have a problem with you."

"My point is that I may not have been very forthcoming with you, but you've also not been very forthcoming with me."

"Your point wasn't lost on me."

"Good."

They stared at each other, each with their arms folded, apparently at a stand-off as to who would speak first.

Bracken won.

"I have a brother. His name is Seth. Your turn." Kendra crossed her legs and turned her face so that she could stare at the black television screen.

"My turn?"

"Yeah. Your turn. One fact for one fact. I tell you something, you tell me something. That's how this works."

"Alright. It's a game," Bracken conceded. "May I make one alteration, though?"

Kendra shrugged. "Like what?"

"I'd prefer that we ask each other questions. I ask you one question, you ask me one question."

"Well… it'd probably be easier to come up with topics of conversation that way."

Bracken nodded. "I have four siblings, by the way. All sisters. Since you volunteered information."

"Oh. That's a lot of sisters."

"Yes, well… I've learned a lot from them over the years." He smiled at her and relaxed his stance. She followed suit and relaxed her posture a bit as well.

"So… where should we start?" Kendra asked.

"Do you have any other siblings?" Bracken threaded his fingers together and placed them on his lap.

"No. It's just Seth and I." She thought for a moment, then asked, "So you're really a prince?"

He sighed. "In a way, I suppose, although royal hierarchy in fairydom is not the same as in humanity."

"What does that mean?"

"It means that I will never actually inherit the title of 'king,'" he answered. "Should my mother cede her position, or should something happen to her, there would be other means to determine who would become the next queen. That was two questions; I believe it's my turn again. How do you know Navarog?"

She swallowed at the sudden lump which appeared in her throat. "I thought he was my friend."

When she didn't elaborate, Bracken said, "You're going to have to give more information than that."

Kendra shook her head. "You're going to have to ask more questions if you want more details. It's my turn. How did you lose your horns?"

"Wait, you asked me two questions last time. I should get another one-"

"Only one of my questions was actually about you. The other was a procedural one."

Bracken clicked his tongue. "Technicalities. Alright, if that's the way you wish to play, then I will acquiesce." He started again. "I gave my first horn to a man who saved my life when I was a very young child. My third was fashioned into the Font of Immortality, which is one of the keys to Zzyzx. The Sphinx took my second away from me when I came here to investigate why the shrine on this preserve had been sealed. Now for my question – do you know how Navarog made it out of the quiet box in which he had been imprisoned?"

"Wait – you knew he was in a quiet box?"

"Well, yes – I was part of the effort to put him into it in the first place," he stated.

Kendra's jaw dropped. "What?"

"Do you know how he made it out of the quiet box?" Bracken repeated.

She buried her hands in her hair and shook her head. "Yes. We didn't know who was in the quiet box, and we needed a safe place to put a traitorous narcoblix who had bitten all of us." Kendra tried to quell the memories of Vanessa which popped into her mind. "If we'd known it was Navarog in that box, we might've made a different decision."

"Kendra – we'll circle back around to that, but I want you to know that as a fairykind, you are immune to the effects of narcoblixes. You also very likely possess the ability to heal others from the bites of blixes."

She looked at him in distress, which took him aback and he rushed to reassure her. "I don't mean to tell you this to make you feel bad. I just… I can teach you." She buried her face in her hands and turned away from him.

"I'm sorry," he said. When she didn't respond, he kept talking to fill the silence. "I didn't… I wasn't… I feel bad for bringing it up. This is obviously a sore subject for you, and I didn't mean to inflict pain."

"I didn't know," she murmured quietly. She removed her hands from her face and turned back toward Bracken. "You mean this whole disaster could've been avoided?"

"Don't blame yourself," he replied. His hands were fidgeting, as though he wasn't quite sure what to do with them. "If you weren't aware of your abilities, then you simply weren't aware. You can't be faulted for not knowing something if you haven't been taught. Besides, what's done is done. We can't change the past; what we get to do now is decide the future. And, if I'm being entirely honest in the most selfish of ways… I'm glad to have met you. Even on argumentative days like this one. I doubt we would've met under normal circumstances."

He stopped talking for a moment, then said, "It's your turn to ask me a question. Please. Save me from my nonsensical rambling."

"How – when -" Kendra struggled to organize her thoughts. "Navarog in the quiet box. Explain that to me."

Bracken leaned his head against the back of the couch. "That was a long time ago." He exhaled, then sat up straight and turned fully toward Kendra, bringing one leg up to rest in front of him on the cushions. "After the demons had been imprisoned, humans began to populate the face of the earth and it became apparent that the dragons also needed to be contained. A team of magical and non-magical beings was formed with the goal in mind of corralling as many dragons as possible into preserves with powerful protective spells in order to keep them from destroying mankind. Some dragons went without much fuss, but that was the exception and not the rule.

"Navarog was excellent at evading our forces and destroying us when he was found. He persisted outside of preserves for centuries after the other dragons had been captured or convinced. He rained terror upon cities and towns. Destruction followed him wherever he went. He was exceptionally powerful thanks to the ties and pacts he had formed with multiple demons. They endowed him with extra magic and he relished in it."

His gaze turned toward the wall past Kendra's shoulder, and his eyes took on a glazed look as he transported himself back in time before he continued his story.

"I took it upon myself to capture him. I gathered other powerful allies to join me, one of whom was the Sphinx, actually. He was a mighty shadow charmer even back then; I didn't know at the time that he was plotting to free the demons from Zzyzx. Had I known that…"

Bracken clenched his hand into a fist and hit the back of the couch with it. Kendra's eyes widened at his motion. "I don't abide by traitors."

He shook his head. "I digress. It was imperative that we subdue Navarog. Some dragons are evil, very few are naturally good, and most are somewhere in between. He was easily the worst of the worst. Destruction and torture were pleasing to him." He shifted his position on the couch and animatedly moved his hands while he spoke.

"Eventually my team and I cornered him. We wore him down and forced him into submission. The quiet box we possessed had never been used before – he became its first occupant. I placed him into it myself. Once he was contained, the Sphinx recommended that we place the box in the dungeon of a very old, well established preserve. I agreed with him and committed the box containing Navarog into what I had thought would be its final resting place."

He made eye contact with Kendra once more. "Hopefully you can imagine my surprise when none other than Navarog himself turned up in my cell, out of the blue, and you of all people clearly knew who he was."

Kendra breathed deeply and spoke. "I'll tell you what happened. But before I start… I'm sorry for being snippy with you earlier."

Bracken smiled softly at her. "I wasn't helpful earlier, either. I'm sorry, too."

"Truce?" she asked, holding her hand out in front of her. "Truce," he said as he shook it.

"Okay," she began. "This is kind of a long story, but I have to tell it all otherwise it won't make enough sense. My grandfather is the caretaker of one of the secret magical preserves. At the time, we believed the Sphinx was our ally – my grandfather trusted him, so my brother Seth and I did, too. We were told that we needed to find and retrieve the key to Zzyzx which was hidden somewhere on the preserve. In order to accomplish that task, the Sphinx sent a few people to help us – one of whom was a narcoblix in disguise…"

* * *

Seth was laying near the edge of the pool when he heard Dale's footsteps approaching him. Moving his head so that he could see his cousin, he asked, "What's up?"

"Coulter is back, and he has information," Dale stated. "It sounds important. Your grandfather has asked to see you. We're all gathering in his study."

Seth sat up. "Wait, really?"

"Yes. Come on, let's find out what he's learned." Dale gestured toward the house.

Gathering his towel, discarded shirt and his sandals, Seth followed Dale in haste. Coulter had been gone for weeks, trying to dig up information regarding how to operate the Translocator. If he'd come back, and Grandpa Sorenson wanted to meet with everyone, that must mean Coulter had found something useful.

"Seth," Coulter greeted once the boy had crossed the threshold into Grandpa's study. The old man smiled kindly at Seth, which the boy thought was a little strange.

"Hi, Coulter," he said anyway. "Did you find anything out?"

Coulter inclined his head. "I'll divulge what I've learned once everyone has gathered."

Seth didn't have to wait long before Grandma, Tanu and Grandpa walked into the room. Trask, Elise and Mara had been away from Fablehaven for quite a while as well and wouldn't be joining them. Once the doors had closed, Coulter disclosed what he had found out.

The translocator was a small, tube-shaped artifact with a center which could twist. The person who twisted the middle of the tube had to envision the place they wanted to go in their mind, and the artifact would teleport them there. They also had the ability to bring passengers along – one person for each non-movable end of the artifact. The person holding the center controlled where everyone was transported.

"This was the information we were waiting for," Tanu said once Coulter had concluded his message.

"Do we even know where to find it, though? We have the vault key, but where is the vault?" Seth asked.

"The vault is located on a preserve named Obsidian Waste," Coulter explained. "It's in Australia. The vault's location has always been known – it's an unmissable eyesore."

"When do we leave?" Tanu asked.

Grandpa raised his hand. "You're forgetting one important detail," he began. "We don't have a way to recharge the artifact."

Kendra. Kendra was missing.

A somber mood fell over the study. Seth allowed the mood to last for exactly ten seconds before he interrupted the solemnity which had been brought on by Grandpa's words.

"The Society has the Sands of Sanctity and the Oculus. We have the Chronometer and the key to the vault where the Translocator is. They're not going to wait much longer before they attack us here."

"Seth has a point," Tanu agreed. "They have the Oculus. They know exactly where we are. They have to know by now that we have both the Chronometer and the key for the Translocator. We're not safe here – we're not safe anywhere, really – but we have to try and prevent them from getting these objects. Including the Translocator."

"Warren could still be alive," Dale spoke up. Everyone's attention shifted to him. "We can't leave him stranded in that room. I can't leave him stranded in that room. I can't let him die without trying to save him first."

"Dale?" Grandma asked, walking over and placing a hand on his shoulder.

"We have to save my brother."

"We have to save Kendra, too," Seth chimed in.

"Seth, we don't even know if Kendra is alive," Coulter said, giving Seth a sympathetic look.

Dale rolled his eyes at that comment while Seth retorted, "We don't know if Warren is alive, either, but I'm not about to abandon him! Kendra is alive – I can feel it – and she would agree with me. We have to get that artifact! It's either us or the Society who will get it, and they're not going to wait around forever. We can't just sit here!"

"We have to approach this with cool heads," Tanu said. "I agree with Seth. It's only a matter of time before the Society knocks Fablehaven flat and takes the Chronometer and the key to the vault at Obsidian Waste. They'll have four of the five artifacts. We can't let that happen."

"How are we supposed to recharge the artifact? What use is it to retrieve the artifact if we can't utilize it to escape from the vault?" Coulter pointed out.

"The same way the other artifacts were recovered – you leave the way you came in," Seth argued. "Besides, we don't know if the Translocater will even need to be recharged. Maybe it's fine!"

Grandpa raised his hand. "That's enough," he said. "Tanu is right. We have to approach this calmly." He folded his hands and rested his chin on them, his elbows on top of his desk. "I agree that we need to retrieve the Translocator. I also believe that we need to think this through a little more thoroughly before we send a team to retrieve the artifact. Trask, Mara and Elise should be part of the strike force, and they're not here at the moment. We need to get them here, come up with a plan, and then and only then can we contact the caretaker and arrange a date."

"Grandpa, we have to go as soon as possible-"

"Seth, I agree with you. But sending you now would sentence you to death and I will not do that. I will not lose another grandchild." Grandpa Sorenson sat back in his chair placed a hand over his mouth, his chin quaking from the onset of sudden emotion.

"We all want to rescue Kendra," Grandma reassured Seth. "We have to find her before we can do that, though. Right now we need to focus on the recovery of the Translocator, and the subsequent recovery of Warren. Those have to be our goals at the moment."

"I promise you, Seth," Tanu began, turning to address the boy. "Once we learn where Kendra is, I will personally help make sure she comes back to us safely."

Seth nodded his head. "Okay. Focus. We need to get the Translocator."

"Yes," Grandpa agreed. "The caretaker over there, Laura, is a trusted ally. We will need to contact her. Let's get Trask, Mara and Elise on board first."

"I want to be part of the strike team," Seth said.

Grandpa hesitated. "Seth-"

"I'm a shadow charmer. I have abilities. I can help."

"He is the reason that all of us survived Wyrmroost," Tanu said.

"I'm going, too."

All eyes turned toward Dale again. Grandpa raised his eyebrow. "Dale?"

"Yeah. I know. I'm not an adventurer. I'm not particularly great with weapons, I'm not quick on my feet, and I'm not the cleverest person out there, but I'm strong and I want to help." He balled his hands into fists and held them at his sides.

Grandpa and Grandma Sorenson made eye contact with each other. Both of them wore apprehensive expressions on their faces.

"I know what you're thinking," Dale continued. "I want to help. We're realistically probably looking at two weeks before we head out. I'll be ready."

Seth clapped Dale on the back and gave him a side-hug. "You're the best," he said. He didn't notice the continued looks of concern which his grandparents shared.


	9. Chapter 9

**Chapter 9**

Dale's knee was bouncing up and down. He couldn't sit still and was extremely pale. His restlessness was obvious and, honestly, was stressing Seth out even more. "Are you okay?" the boy asked.

"Yeah. Yeah, I'm… I'm fine," Dale answered, continuing to fidget. Nervousness was blatantly apparent in his tone of voice.

"Are you sure? You're looking a little pale."

Dale seemed to become even paler at that comment, if that was possible. "I'm okay." He folded his hands and placed them in his lap, but he kept moving his legs up and down.

Seth looked around the airplane to check on everyone else. Tanu was quietly reading a book to himself. Mara had reclined her seat back as far as possible and appeared to be sleeping. The new guy – Vincent – had laid down across a row of seats and was also asleep. In the very back of the tiny aircraft, Elise and Trask were huddled together, apparently talking about something serious.

With one last glance at his very antsy cousin, Seth stood up and made his way toward the back of the cabin. Elise and Trask noticed his movement and they both sent him questioning looks. "What's wrong?" Trask asked his question at the same time that Elise asked, "How's Dale?"

"Well…" Seth turned toward Dale again. His cousin had leaned his head back against the headrest, his eyes shut tightly and his face in a screwed-up expression. He kind of looked like he was trying _not_ to cry. "I think he's having a panic attack."

Trask rubbed a hand over his face. "I was afraid something like this would happen." Elise frowned and nodded her head.

"What?" Seth asked.

"Dale isn't an adventurer," Elise explained. "He can't handle the stress. It's not his fault – missions like this just aren't everyone's cup of tea. They're probably not _most_ people's, actually."

"He volunteered to come, though," Seth stated.

"There is very little that Dale wouldn't do for Warren," Trask said. "Just like there is little that _you_ wouldn't do for Kendra. This might be more than he can handle, though."

A momentary pause in conversation prevailed, and then Seth spoke. "He's really afraid, isn't he?"

Elise stood up and gave Seth a sympathetic smile before she walked over and sat down next to Dale.

Trask motioned toward the seat that Elise had just vacated, and Seth accepted the older man's silent offer to sit. "Dale is a good man. He has a golden heart and a solid, reliable spirit. He's also a very anxious person when he's taken out of his area of comfort." Trask motioned toward the man in question, who had now buried his face in his hands while Elise patted his back. Seth couldn't hear what she was saying, but he assumed that she was trying to comfort him.

"Stan and Ruth were worried when Dale said he wanted to take part in this mission, but they couldn't find it in their hearts to stop him." Trask took in a deep breath and let it out slowly. "I hate to turn him away, but I think I'm going to have to. Our team needs to be in peak condition for the task ahead."

"There's nothing wrong with Dale," Seth objected.

"I didn't say there was," Trask replied. "What I'm saying is that everyone on this team has to be able to focus and concentrate on the end goal. We have to stay clear-minded and ready for the unpredictable. Dale doesn't have that type of experience, and he is not naturally attuned to missions and adventures. The _idea_ of the unpredictable is causing him tremendous stress already – what is it going to be like when we're in the middle of a life-or-death situation?" He sighed. "I have to think about the well-being of the entire team, Dale included."

Seth hated the idea of leaving Dale behind. He knew how much this mission meant to his cousin, and understood on a deep level the feelings of helplessness and the desire to do _something_ to help recover his sibling. Still, Trask's words _did_ have a certain level of sense to them. He had to admit, if merely the _thought_ of adventure turned Dale into the nervous wreck he currently was… what would his cousin be like in the middle of one?

A certain type of dread filled Seth's gut. If Dale had a panic attack in the middle of a trial… he might not survive. And if the team tried to help him through it…

 _It could mean death for all of them._

Oh no.

* * *

"Better. That time was better. You're getting close," Bracken encouraged. "Very close."

"I feel weird when I try to hide my light," Kendra said. "It's like… I don't know how to describe it. Like I'm floating? But I'm not _actually_ floating. I don't know. It sounds crazy."

"It's _not_ crazy," he replied. "You contain an _immense_ amount of energy within your body. It's not crazy to feel odd when you're concealing your light." He tapped his leg in thought. "That time, your overall aura was really dim. Let's see if we can get it down to regular human levels. What were you visualizing this last time? That worked well."

Kendra raised her knees and hugged them to her chest, the rested her chin on top of them. "Honestly? I was thinking about this place." She looked up at Bracken. "It's stifling here."

Bracken's silver-blue eyes seemed to dim at her words. "Yes, well… there is certainly no lack of inspiration in that area here, is there?"

Silence fell over them. Kendra decided that now was a good time to ask a question she'd asked in the past but hadn't received a real answer to.

"How long have you been here?"

He made eye contact with her. "If I'm being completely honest, I stopped keeping track once I reached 300 years."

Kendra's jaw dropped. " _What?_ "

Bracken sighed, then scooted backward until he could lean against the nearby wall. He straightened his legs out in front of him and crossed his ankles, then launched into his story.

"This preserve contains a shrine to the Fairy Queen," he began. "A long time ago – I'm uncertain now as to exactly how long ago it was – a large, magical dome was placed over the shrine, effectively sealing it off from the rest of the preserve. The fairies who live at this preserve could no longer communicate with the Queen, and many fairies were trapped inside of the dome.

"I discussed the situation with the Queen. She warned me not to investigate, but I felt it was the correct course of action. Our sisters could not commune with their Queen and the rest of fairydom; something had to be done.

"I'd been to this preserve in the past and knew of a few different ways to enter it. I followed one of those routes, which I'm certain has since been discovered and sealed off as well, and made my way to the shrine. The dome is unmistakable – it's an eyesore on the preserve, and I wasn't incredibly far from it when I infiltrated the area.

"This is also an extremely hostile preserve. I overestimated my abilities and the Sphinx found and captured me. He took my second horn from me – as a shadow charmer, he was immune to the psychological effects which attack anyone who tries to steal a unicorn horn. I was wounded, bound, and cast into prison, and I've been here ever since."

"Bracken, I'm so sorry," Kendra said, quickly moving to sit next to him. "I had no idea."

"It's not your fault," he replied.

She placed a hand on his shoulder. "I'm still sorry it happened to you."

Bracken placed one of his hands on top of hers for a moment, gave hers a quick squeeze and then let go. "Don't pity me. I'm undeserving of your concern."

"What are you _talking_ _about?_ " Kendra asked. " _Undeserving?_ You're a good person, Bracken. You deserve a whole lot more than some basic concern."

"I'm ' _the broken son of the Fairy Queen_ ,'" he insisted. "My strength and power has been _taken_ from me. I couldn't even protect you from Navarog in his human form. At his weakest."

Kendra placed her free hand on Bracken's other shoulder and crouched down awkwardly in front of him; his legs were in the way, so she sat down on the floor next to them and looked him in his eyes.

"You are _not_ broken," she stated.

He didn't answer her, but maintained eye contact.

"Okay? You're not broken. Gav-… Navarog _said_ you were broken, but you're not. Don't believe his lies. He's a liar. All he does is… is lie. You're not broken. Don't let him win."

Bracken bowed his head, then returned to meet her gaze again.

"You're not broken, either," he told her. "And you're not weak. I know you believe you are, but you aren't."

Kendra released Bracken's shoulders and placed her hands in her lap while she rolled her eyes at him. "Sure," she said. "I've seen you on those pinball machines. Your reflexes are _ridiculous_. And I watched you fight Navarog. Me, on the other hand? I speak languages and I'm trying to learn how to _not_ be a homing beacon to my enemies. Super useful skills when it comes to fighting bad guys."

"You don't even _know_ how strong you are, Kendra," Bracken marveled. "Your magic – your _power_ – it's _instinctual_. With persistent study, practice, and meditation, you could become one of the greatest warriors for the cause of light. You're already a formidable force to be reckoned with."

"Well, then, so are you."

Bracken chuckled at her persistence. Kendra smiled in response.

"Shall we get back to practice?" he asked.

"Yeah." Kendra backed away from him a bit, then crossed her legs in front of her and rested her hands on her knees. Before she could close her eyes and begin putting effort into trying to draw in her light, Bracken grabbed hold of her arm for a moment. She looked up at him in question.

"Thank you," he said. "For believing in me."

* * *

In the end, their efforts hadn't made a real difference. They were attacked pretty much as soon as they stepped foot onto the preserve. Perhaps it was for the best that Dale hadn't been allowed to go with them – at least _someone_ in their group had been able to avoid capture. Or _death_.

Seth reflected on his team's failed mission while he walked through the shadows, guards on either side of him. He thought about Vincent, the man who'd either frozen or drowned to death right in front of him. He heard Trask's voice urging everyone forward, to continue on. Saw Mara's grim expression when the wizard Mirav had shown up with the Gray Assassin in tow. Relived the bitter disappointment he felt when at long last his team had obtained the Translocator, only to clearly see that it was indeed in need of recharging. The sheer _anger_ which overcame him when he realized that Gavin the Traitor was there, fighting against Seth's team.

" _Where is she!? Where did you take my sister!?"_

" _Your yelling is grating on my nerves."_

" _Tell me where she is!"_

Everyone had been forcibly apprehended. _Everyone._ No exceptions. The whole thing had been a set up; a trap. Once captured, Seth had been knocked out and, when he woke, he found himself lying on a pile of cushions and being addressed by the Sphinx.

He didn't know the whereabouts of his teammates and he'd left the Sphinx's presence with more questions than answers. What he _did_ know, however, was that he and the others had played right into the Sphinx's hands. _Again_. And now he was in a dungeon, maybe for the rest of his life. He hoped the others were alright. His heart sank at the thought that he'd failed.

One of his goblin guards gave him a rough shove forward. "Hey, watch it!" Seth said. "I'm walking – no need to _push_ me."

The goblins exchanged glances. "He speaks our language," one said to the other.

"Yeah. I do."

The second goblin shrugged and opened a cell while the first goblin unceremoniously pushed Seth through the doorway. "In you go," it said. Seth stumbled over his feet and fell onto the floor of the cell, but caught himself with his hands and knees before he could truly faceplant into the hard stone. The door was slammed shut as soon as Seth crossed the threshold.

A growl of frustration escaped from Seth's throat. He stumbled to his feet and threw himself against the door before he sank back to the floor.

"What am I supposed to do now?" he miserably asked himself.

"Who are you?" came a commanding voice.

His eyes snapped open at the realization that he wasn't alone, and he found a decently tall young man standing in the middle of the room.

"Who wants to know?" Seth retorted.

The young man opened his mouth to respond, but halted when a girl stepped out from behind him.

Seth's heart stopped.

"Seth?" the girl asked. She sounded cautiously optimistic.

 _Kendra. It was Kendra._

His jaw dropped and he stood to his feet right as Kendra crashed into him and wrapped him in a bone-crushing embrace which he enthusiastically returned.

"Seth. Seth! Is it you? Is it really you? How did you get here? What happened? Are you okay? Is anyone else here, too?"

He laughed while he cried. "You're alive," he stated. "You're alive. I've found you. Oh God, Kendra, you're _alive!_ "

* * *

 _And now we really start to move forward with the plot. :)_

 _Please keep in mind… I love Dale. I really do. I promise._


	10. Chapter 10

_Sorry for the long delay. Lots of dialogue this chapter._

* * *

They stayed up all night talking. Bracken had tried to back out of Kendra's cell in order to give the siblings some time to themselves to reunite – well, he supposed it was now Kendra _and_ Seth's cell – but Kendra had grabbed his arm and told him to stay. Her eyes had plead, and the emotions she projected with her touch suggested that she was nervous to part ways with him. Ever since that one meeting with Navarog, Kendra had insisted that they remain together as often as possible, and well… she _was_ fairykind. Sure, she hadn't _technically_ commanded him in the name of the Queen, and he didn't have to go along with what she said anyway, but who was he to refuse her directives?

Wow, he'd _definitely_ been spending too much time with her as of late. He'd be lying if he said that the past 3 months _hadn't_ been the best out of his entire time in the dungeon, however, and Bracken was no liar.

He was _excellent_ at awkward hovering, though.

The Sorenson siblings were a mess of smiles and laughter, tears and angry rants. Bracken, for his part, sat on Kendra's cot and observed the other two while they caught one another up to speed on events which had taken place both inside and outside of prison. They threw around names of people he didn't know at lightning speed, but he followed along surprisingly well thanks to all of his conversations with Kendra over the previous weeks they'd spent together.

"So… I'm guessing this is Bracken?" Seth asked after quite a while, bringing the unicorn out of his reverie.

"Oh – yeah," Kendra said, reaching for Bracken's hand and pulling him to his feet. "Bracken, this is my brother, Seth."

Seth eyed their fingers, which had remained intertwined, and raised his eyebrow at both of them. Bracken hurriedly let go and instead reached out toward Seth in order to shake the boy's hand. "It's a pleasure to meet you," he said.

"You, too," Seth replied. "So… are you really a unicorn?"

Bracken nodded his head. "Yes."

"Cool." Seth then promptly turned to Kendra. "We need to talk about an escape. Things are bad, and they're only going to get worse."

"We've been trying to plan an escape for _weeks_ now," Kendra answered. "This place is heavily guarded; we haven't been able to figure out a way past all of the sentries. Plus, I stick out like a sore thumb with how much I glow in the darkness. Bracken's been teaching me how to draw in my light so that I don't shine so brightly, but I still don't have the skill mastered." She bit her lip. "I don't know how we're going to get out of here."

"Of course you haven't found a way out yet – you've been missing one key factor."

"Oh? What's that?" Bracken asked at the same time that Kendra shook her head and let out a tired laugh.

"Me!" Seth said, putting his hands together and cracking his knuckles. "I happen to be an _expert_ at sneaking around."

Bracken blinked. "You're a shadow charmer. I would expect nothing less."

"He was an expert at it even _before_ he became a shadow charmer," Kendra commented. Seth grinned.

"Regardless, it'll be good to have a third set of eyes on the situation," Bracken continued. "We'll be grateful for your help."

Seth shot another wary look at the unicorn and addressed Kendra. "You really trust this guy?"

Kendra smiled at Bracken. "Yeah," she said. "I do."

Bracken was pretty sure that he felt his heart become almost uncomfortably warm at her comment. He fought hard to refrain from letting a giant smile break out across his face. She _finally_ trusted him… it had taken a few months, but the effort was worth the reward in his opinion.

"If you're sure," the boy continued with caution in his tone. "I just don't want another Gavarog situation."

" _Gavarog?_ " Kendra almost shrieked in surprise.

Seth shrugged. "It's what I call him now." He then looked at Bracken and said, "If Kendra trusts you, then so do I."

"Well… thank you?" Bracken responded, taken slightly off-guard by Seth's comment. "I feel similarly. Kendra is a good judge of character."

She scoffed at that remark. "Sure."

"Gavarog is only one person. Dragon. Whatever." Seth waved his hand in the air dismissively.

"What about Vanessa? And Errol?"

"Eh, we were young then. We didn't know any better."

Kendra rolled her eyes. "Yeah, and we're _so_ much older now than we were then!"

"Everyone makes mistakes," Bracken chimed in, "and you've been severely lied to and taken advantage of in the past. You can't be faulted for wanting to believe the best in people. We've been over this before."

"Stop, you guys," Kendra responded. "Next topic, please."

Breakfast conveniently arrived right as Kendra asked for a change of subject – two meal mats in the cell, presumably one for Kendra and one for Seth. "What is _that?_ " the boy asked suspiciously as he eyed the unidentifiable purple goop.

Bracken stretched and said, "Alas, the tragedy of breakfast. I should probably fetch mine from my cell." He made to open the passageway in the wall, but Kendra placed her hand on his shoulder which caused him to hesitate.

"Not alone," she said quietly.

Seth raised an eyebrow as he observed.

Bracken nodded his head toward her brother. "You should spend time catching up with him. Without me around."

She gripped his arm more tightly. Her face reflected that she was feeling anxious. "We don't go anywhere alone," she insisted. "Remember?"

A long pause filled the cell as Kendra and Bracken stared at each other before he finally relented. "You're right," he said. "We agreed."

Seth's expression changed. He looked like he was puzzled by their interaction. "I'm missing something, aren't I?" he asked.

Kendra turned toward her brother. "Gavarog has been here."

His face paled. " _What?_ "

"He almost killed Bracken," she explained as she turned her gaze toward the floor.

"We promised to stay together after that," Bracken concluded. He reached out and captured Kendra's hand in his in a gesture of comfort.

Seth looked between the two of them. "Story time?" he asked.

"In a few minutes," Kendra consented. "Let's get Bracken's breakfast first; then we can all eat together."

* * *

Seth regretted breakfast even as he was in the process of trying to eat it. He couldn't complain about the company and the conversation, though, especially after so much time had been spent stressing and mourning the loss of his sister.

Kendra had changed. A _lot_. He couldn't quite put his finger on what exactly was different about her, but she felt different. More confident in some ways. Less confident in others. She was still the somewhat anxious sister he'd grown up with, but she was different.

Then again, he wasn't the same, either.

It'd only been three months.

On the other hand, it'd been _three whole months_. They'd never spent so much time apart from each other before… and those three months had been anything but uneventful.

The Sphinx had shared a lot of information with Seth before the boy had been tossed into the cell with his sister. Had their captor shared the same information with Kendra?

"How does the Translocator work?" she asked, interrupting her brother's train of thought.

Seth blinked. "It's a little cylinder and the middle part twists. The person who turns the middle part is supposed to think of a place to go, and I guess it's supposed to transport you there? It didn't work for us, so we couldn't try it out."

"The Translocator is capable of transporting up to three people at a time," Bracken added. "Passengers take hold of either end of the device while the person or being who twists the section in the middle decides where everyone goes."

"Hmm. So the person in the middle just thinks of a place to go? Do they have to concentrate on it or something? Is it really that simple?"

Bracken shrugged his shoulders. "To be honest, I haven't used it before, so I'm not sure. I doubt it would be too complicated."

Seth shook his head. "It took Coulter _months_ to figure out how the artifact functions, and this whole time Kendra has been sitting here with a guy who knew how to work it all along. Tell me, Bracken – do you know about the Eternals, too?"

The unicorn seemed to stiffen at that question. "I'm not quite sure how to answer that," he replied.

"Eternals?" Kendra asked, confusion evident on her face.

"The Sphinx told me about them when I woke up here," Seth explained. "They're humans who drew short straws and wound up becoming kind of immortal from what the Sphinx explained. Zzyzx can't be opened until they're all dead."

" _What?_ " Kendra stated more than asked. "I'm sorry… _what?_ "

Bracken sighed. "They were meant to be kept an absolute secret," he explained. "If the Sphinx knows about them, then we truly _are_ in dire straits. Kendra, you said he has the Oculus… if he learns how to use it, he'll be able to find them in a matter of _moments_."

"How many of them are there?" she asked.

"Five," Bracken answered.

"He said two have been eliminated," Seth stated.

Bracken massaged his temples with his fingers as his expression morphed into utter seriousness. He then moved to stand up and began pacing the floor. "We _have_ to get out of here," he insisted. "I know I've been saying that for, well… a very long time, but the need has never been more urgent. We _must_ find a way out."

* * *

"You have a _rec room!?_ " Seth emphasized. "You've _gotta_ take me!"

"It's not _that_ impressive," Bracken began, "but it _is_ better than being holed up in a cell all day."

An uncomfortable feeling started to tug at the back of Kendra's brain. She didn't understand why, but a few seconds later she thought she heard the shuffle of feet nearby. Holding a finger to her lips, she motioned frantically to the boys in the cell to quiet themselves so she could listen better. She pressed her ear against the door of the cell and pulled the little communicator button out of her breast pocket.

 _What do you hear?_ Bracken's voice entered her mind.

 _I'm not sure_ , she responded. _Footsteps. I'm mostly feeling really anxious all of a sudden._

Bracken walked over to her and tapped her shoulder, signaling for her to move to the side.

"What's going on?" Seth whispered. Kendra turned toward her brother and held her finger to her lips again. He took the hint and stopped talking, but also wandered toward the door.

 _There,_ Kendra thought. _Do you hear that?_

 _Yes,_ Bracken replied. _And I sense his aura._

 _Whose?_

 _Navarog. You can sense it, too – that's why you're feeling anxious._

Bracken and Kendra made eye contact and squared their facial features into hardened, serious versions.

 _Open the wall,_ Kendra said. _We need to get out of here._

 _No need to tell me twice,_ Bracken agreed. He hurried toward the wall and started to open it, but the cell door opened first.

Kendra retreated from the entrance to the cell and walked backwards until she reached Seth. She grabbed his hand desperately, her own hand shaking with fear. Her brother glanced at her face and then turned to meet their visitor.

The Sphinx.

"Good afternoon, Kendra," he greeted. "Seth. Bracken." He inclined his head toward each of them as he said their names.

"What do _you_ want?" Kendra spat back at him.

"I came to offer you a shower and a fresh change of clothes," he stated. "I thought you might appreciate that."

Kendra's eyebrows furrowed. She _did_ feel particularly grungy after all this time without a proper opportunity to bathe, and the thought of a hot shower sounded positively divine, but she was no fool. The Sphinx was up to something.

"What's the catch?" she asked.

"You promised to aid me in exchange for immunity for your family, did you not?"

"Wait, what?" Seth questioned.

Kendra bit her lip.

Bracken scowled. "That's low, even for you," he said.

The Sphinx chose to ignore the other occupants of the cell.

"Do you accept?" he asked. "I only need a moment of your time. You'll be rewarded with however long of a shower you want, a clean change of clothes, and I'll allow you to come back with your arms full of food much more desirable than the rations you've been receiving."

"Where is Navarog?" Bracken demanded. "I can tell that he is nearby."

"Perceptive." The Sphinx leveled his gaze at the unicorn. "I promise no harm will come to her."

"You've promised that before," Kendra stated. "I want you to promise me that no harm will come to my brother and Bracken."

"If you perform your simple task, consider it done," the Sphinx answered.

"Wait," Seth interrupted. "What exactly do you want her to do?"

The boy drew the attention of their captor. "That is none of your concern."

"It _is_ my concern," Seth insisted. "I've spent the past three months wondering if my sister was even _alive_. How do I know you won't kill her as soon as she steps out of this cell!?"

"You have my word," the Sphinx said. "Contrary to apparent belief, I don't actually hate any of you, nor do I desire for your deaths. You're only here because you are resourceful and I won't have you standing in my way. Once my plans have come to fruition, you'll be released."

Bracken stepped forward. "That's nice and all," he began, "but you still haven't answered my question. Where is Navarog?"

The Sphinx held up his hand, and Gavin appeared in the doorway of the cell. "Hey, Kendra," he casually greeted her with a smirk. Kendra's blood felt like it had turned to ice inside her veins.

Seth ran forward as though to try and attack him, but Bracken grabbed the boy's upper arm before he could get very far. The unicorn shook his head in a cautionary way, wordlessly warning Seth to stay away from the disguised dragon.

"Listen to the unicorn prince," Gavin warned. "He knows who he's dealing with."

"Shut up, Navarog." Kendra glared at him with pure hatred in her eyes before she turned her stare to the Sphinx. "You promised to keep him away from me. You _promised_."

"And he _will_ stay away from you," the Sphinx stated. "He will remain here while you accompany me to my office. Call it… insurance."

"You can't be serious," Bracken muttered at the same time that Seth said, "Really? You're so afraid of us that you're sending a _dragon_ to guard us?"

Kendra's stomach dropped. The message she'd received from this was clear.

 _Cooperate. Or else._

She couldn't lose her brother. She couldn't lose Bracken. And the thought of either of them getting hurt due to her non-compliance shook her.

"You're a pretty wise person, Kendra," the Sphinx prompted. "You'll be coming to my office. The question is, will you do so willingly?"

"A quick visit?" she asked.

"Less than thirty seconds."

"Bracken and Seth won't be hurt while I'm away?"

"I promise they will be unharmed," he assured her.

Kendra turned toward her cell mates and grabbed hold of both of their hands. "I'll be back soon," she promised.

Seth threw his arms around her. "You'd better," he replied.

She returned Seth's hug, then faced the Sphinx. "I'll come willingly."

The Sphinx nodded his head toward Gavin. "Stand outside the cell," he instructed. "I'll summon you if your assistance is required."

Gavin kicked off from the doorway where he'd been leaning against the side. He didn't look happy at the Sphinx's words, but he complied. Kendra wondered why he was obeying when he obviously didn't want to, but she put that thought into the back of her brain to wonder about later.

Now it was time to face whatever the Sphinx had in store for her.

"Lead the way," she said.


	11. Chapter 11

**Chapter 11**

Kendra was clever. As soon as Seth mentioned that the Translocator had been recovered, she'd wondered if this would happen. She'd practically been expecting it.

She was half-surprised that the Sphinx hadn't summoned her as soon as he had the artifact in his possession. Instead, he'd first given her time to reunite with her brother. Why? It was probably his way of trying to impress upon them the insane idea that he was really their friend. She couldn't deny that she was grateful for the opportunity to see and hug her brother again. Still…

The Sphinx had underestimated her.

 _He'll regret it._

He led her through the dungeon – the trek up and out to the entrance was long, uphill, and somewhat steep at a couple of different points, but the stones were smooth and well-worn. Kendra idly wondered if it had really been this long of a walk down to her cell when she'd first arrived. She'd been pretty emotionally spent at the time and her thoughts had been miles away; she didn't really remember the initial journey to her cell all that well.

When they reached the entrance to the dungeon, Kendra turned to look behind her in the direction of her cell. She wondered whether Navarog was still standing outside the door, or if he had ventured inside. Was he taunting them? _Hurting_ them? Her attention was drawn back toward the dungeon door, which made a loud clanging sound as it opened. She found that the Sphinx was watching her instead of the door.

"What?" she asked.

"Navarog will remain outside of the cell as instructed," he stated. "Unless I direct him otherwise."

Kendra shrugged her shoulders, trying to appear nonchalant. "If you say so." The Sphinx turned away from her and toward the open door, but before he took another step, Kendra asked, "Why does he listen to you, anyway? What are you holding over his head?"

The Sphinx paused, but didn't look at her. "That is none of your concern," he stated. "Come this way."

She rolled her eyes and followed him out of the dungeon.

* * *

He wanted her to recharge the Translocator via magical touch. She couldn't let that happen – if the artifact was functional, he would be able to go wherever he wanted, whenever he wanted.

 _Okay, Kendra. Remember what you've practiced. Control your power._

She concentrated as he took hold of the artifact and walked toward her with it, willing her magical energy to retreat inside of her body – just like Bracken had been teaching her. She started to feel that strange, almost floaty feeling which indicated to her that she was doing it right.

The Sphinx maintained his hold on one end of the artifact as he handed the other end to Kendra. She willed her power further inside of her, trying to bury it deep.

The artifact did not respond to her touch.

With eyebrows furrowed, the Sphinx frowned. "Interesting," he said. "I would think that you're a stingbulb, but I know better. Why isn't the artifact charging?"

Kendra shrugged her shoulders. "I don't know," she said. "I haven't ever tried to recharge an object while a shadow charmer held it at the same time. Are you siphoning the energy or something?"

He looked at her suspiciously. "I am experienced in my skillset, and I know what it feels like to steal magical energy. That is _not_ happening right now."

She shrugged again. "You would know better than me. It was just a suggestion."

"You're doing something, aren't you?" he asked, eyes narrowed.

"I'm doing what I always do," she stated.

He frowned as he carefully studied her. "Your aura hasn't changed," he reasoned. "Perhaps my dark powers have some sort of canceling affect to your light after all."

After hesitating for another moment, he spoke again. "I will release my hold on this artifact," he stated. "You will charge it and pass it back to me. If you do not comply with these instructions, I will let Navarog enter your cell. I cannot guarantee the safety of the occupants within it."

Kendra maintained eye contact with him. She hoped he would stop talking soon; she was going to lose her hold on her powers.

"Do you understand and agree to my terms?"

"Yes," Kendra replied.

The Sphinx released his hold on the Translocator after another brief pause. Kendra closed her eyes and concentrated.

 _Recharge it_ , she thought.

 _If the artifact is functional then I can go wherever I want, whenever I want._

She pictured her cell in the dungeon and focused on that image in her mind, then let go of the powers she was holding back. The Translocator vibrated beneath her hands as it sprang to life. She didn't wait for it to finish trembling before she snapped open her eyes and twisted the middle portion of the artifact.

Kendra caught sight of the Sphinx's horrified expression as she disappeared.

Seth jumped when his sister suddenly appeared in the cell. She held her finger to her lips in an attempt to tell him to be quiet, then held the Translocator out in front of her and frantically motioned for both him and Bracken to grab hold of it. They received the message loud and clear – each of them grasped one end of the artifact. Two seconds later, Kendra twisted the middle section of the tiny cylinder and the trio disappeared from Living Mirage just as the door to their cell was opening.

* * *

"Stan! Ruth! Come quick! Get Dale, too!"

Kendra blinked in the bright sunlight. Seth whooped and jumped around, then tackled his sister in a hug so tight that it was almost as uncomfortable and yet simultaneously as joyful as the one he had given her perhaps less than twelve hours ago. She laughed from where he'd knocked her over into the soft grass. It had worked. They'd made it out! They were home! They were _safe!_

She looked over at Bracken and found that he'd sunk to his knees on the grass, his face upturned toward the sky as he took deep breaths in and out. A swarm of fairies had decided to crowd around him, all of them chattering eagerly in high-pitched voices, each vying for his attention. He chuckled after a few moments, then asked them to please give him some room so that he could feel the sunlight on his skin.

Within thirty seconds of their arrival, Kendra felt herself being lifted off of the ground by strong arms and found herself face-to-face with Dale. She was surprised when he hugged her fiercely; he'd never done that before, at least not that she could readily remember. He let her go relatively quickly and moved on to Seth. Turning to her right, Kendra found herself confronted by her grandparents, who both rushed forward and embraced her desperately. "Oh, Kendra, you don't know how good it is to see you," Grandma Sorenson whispered in her ear, her voice thick with emotion.

Tears started to fall from Kendra's face. She couldn't help them, nor did she try to control them.

She was _home_.

"How could you _possibly_ have made it back here?" Grandpa asked.

"Is that the Translocator?" Coulter asked from where he stood on the back porch.

Kendra pushed away from her grandparents after a few moments and said, "I have to get Warren."

"What? How?" Grandpa asked; she guessed that he hadn't heard Coulter's comment.

She held the Translocator in front of her. "With this."

Dale rushed back over to her from where he stood conversing with Seth in hushed whispers. "Take me with you," he begged. "Please."

"Of course," Kendra agreed. She glanced over to Bracken, who was now sitting on the grass and chatting with the relentless horde of fairies. "Um… Grandma, Grandpa, his name is Bracken and he's a friend. I'll explain more once I'm back."

"Wait, Kendra – you just barely came home. Can someone else go get Warren? Please. I can go myself if you'd like," Stan volunteered.

"Let her go," Ruth said. "She'll be right back."

"I'll be quick," Kendra promised. "Dale and I will bring him home." Fresh tears started to fall. She hoped she would find Warren alive. The image of the charred knapsack had been burned into her brain; she'd had many nightmares about Warren suffocating from smoke or starving or bleeding to death inside the extradimensional storage space the knapsack was connected to.

Kendra hugged Dale once more to bring herself out of her thoughts, then instructed him to hold onto one end of the Translocator. She twisted the midsection and the next thing she knew, she was inside the storage space where a very hairy Warren sat on the ground across from a hermit troll.

She cried in relief when she caught sight of her thin, but otherwise healed and relatively healthy-looking cousin. Dale ran forward and crushed Warren in a tight embrace.

Warren wasn't having it.

"Let go of me," he demanded, drawing a knife from the belt at his waist. "Who _are_ you two?"

"Warren, it's me," Dale stated. "Your brother. Don't you recognize me?"

"I know who you _look_ like," Warren said. "And I know who _she_ looks like," he continued, pointing at Kendra. "What I _don't_ know is if you're actually either of the people I think you might be."

"It's really us, Warren," Kendra said.

"Sure. And _how_ , exactly, did you escape Navarog?"

"I didn't," she explained. "He torched the knapsack. I watched it burn while you were inside," she cried. "I tried to fight back, but he broke my leg and dislocated my arm. I passed out and woke up later in the Sphinx's dungeon. Warren, the Sphinx is running the fifth secret preserve, and he already has the artifact from it. The Font of Immortality."

Warren narrowed his eyes at her. "That is… oddly specific," he said. "Still… Kendra… I listened to my cousin scream before I was knocked out by Gavin, and when I woke up, I was trapped." He didn't continue his train of thought, but he didn't need to – he'd clearly assumed that Kendra was dead.

How fitting. They each thought the other might've died.

"Warren. You and I grew up at Fablehaven. My mother left when I was a child. Your mother died when you were a baby. Dad died while – after your run-in with the revenant," Dale chimed in. "Test me. I know it all, everything, down to how you like your eggs cooked for breakfast. Ask me any question you want to."

He held up his hands in a placating gesture as an idea sprouted in Kendra's mind. "Hang on a sec," she said, then closed her eyes.

"What are you doing?" Warren asked. She didn't answer; instead, she focused once again on the wealth of power within herself, but this time she concentrated on drawing her power _out_ of her body instead of hiding it deep inside.

Drawing out her power was much easier than trying to quash it – she was almost surprised at just how _easy_ it was to make her body glow. She opened her eyes and found bright, golden light emanating from her left hand.

"A stingbulb can't copy my powers," Kendra stated with confidence.

Warren released his hold on the knife and rushed forward to scoop her up in a tight embrace, then turned to his brother and welcomed him into a group hug. Dale wept openly as he held onto his brother and his cousin – his emotions surprised Kendra, but she couldn't blame him for them.

After a long pause, Warren leaned back and asked, "Can we _please_ get out of here?"

Kendra smiled. "Of course. Let's go home. It's been a long time."

"You look almost as bedraggled as I do," he stated.

"I was in the Sphinx's dungeon until like 3 minutes before Dale and I showed up here," she explained. "I stole the Translocator from him. He's probably not very happy with me at the moment."

He rubbed the top of her head affectionately while Dale laughed. "I'm proud of you, squirt."

She held out the Translocator, then looked between Warren and the hermit troll. "I think I can only carry two passengers," Kendra explained, addressing the troll. "Would you like for me to come back for you?"

"Bubda like the dark," the troll stated.

"Well, Bubda isn't going to stay here," Warren insisted. "I'll come back for you."

"Go away. Bubda finally have peace."

Warren let out an exasperated sigh, then glared hard at the hermit troll. "I'm going to find a nice, dark, abandoned cave, and then I'm going to come back and haul you out of here, whether or not you're happy about it. So get used to the idea of saying goodbye to this place."

Bubda furrowed his brow, crossed his arms over his chest, and sat down on the floor in a gesture of stubbornness. "Bubda stay here," he insisted.

"You _can't_ stay here," Warren continued. "There's no way out. You'll run out of food sooner or later. I'm not going to leave you to starve."

The troll waved a dismissive hand at the trio. "Go away," he stated once more.

"I'll be back," Warren promised. "And when I come back, you're leaving with me."

He turned his attention back to Kendra and Dale. "Alright," he said. "Let's go home."

* * *

 _Have a zillion hugs. Because there aren't nearly enough of them in canon. :)_


End file.
